€63 million in illegal cigarettes seized in two years

More than €63 million worth of illegal cigarettes have been seized by the authorities across Ireland in less than two years, a cross-Border law-enforcement conference was told today.

In the past 20 months Revenue Commissioners have recovered around 160 million cigarettes with an estimated value of €59 million, while in the North, 12 million cigarettes worth €4.2 million were seized over the last year.

In the biggest seizure, authorities from both sides of the Border intercepted a shipment of almost 26 million cigarettes en route from Singapore in May this year.

The conference in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, is being attended by the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern; Northern Ireland Security Minister Paul Goggins; Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, and PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde.

Speaking today, Mr Ahern said police on both sides of the Border are co-operating to combat the threat from organised criminals, and he highlighted arrests of suspected fuel smugglers and the seizures of guns, drugs and cash funded through criminal activity.

"One only has to look, for example, to the co-operation between the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Assets Recovery Agency to see what can be achieved when people work together with a common understanding and with common purpose," Mr Ahern told the conference.

"The ordinary decent citizen whose life is being blighted by the insidious effects of organised crime demands that we do all in our power to protect them from the ravages of organised crime," he added.

Mr Goggins said that developing the "already excellent" cross-border partnership that exists between law enforcement agencies is vital to increase an understanding and effective investigation of organised crime.

In September, the PSNI, Garda and Dutch police co-operated to seize more than 200 guns; €402,000 in cash; and cannabis and heroin worth €4.1 million destined for Irish criminal gangs.

Today's seminar also saw the publication of the Cross Border Organised Crime Assessment 2008,which assesses organised crime in both jurisdictions, identifies emerging threats and provides an insight into the work being done by law enforcement bodies.