Customs officers have seized 4.8 million cigarettes with a retail value of £725,000 at Dublin Port. The haul, the biggest single seizure this year, is believed to have been destined for illegal street trade in the busy pre-Christmas period.
Another 2.5 million cigarettes, which intelligence suggested were to supply the Dublin street trade, were recovered in a separate operation in Spain last Wednesday. This brings the value of seized tobacco products earmarked for the Irish market this week to £1.15 million.
The cigarettes discovered yesterday were concealed in a 40ft container, which arrived on a vessel from the Middle East. A spokeswoman for the Revenue Commissioners said that no arrests had been made, but that a follow-up operation was in progress. A value of £389,000 has been placed on the seizure in Spain. Three Irish and four Spanish men have been arrested and are being questioned in Barcelona. "This major seizure was the direct result of intelligence provided by Irish Customs to Spanish customs," the spokeswoman said.
Up to this week, Customs officers have detected and seized almost 13 million cigarettes, valued at just under £2 million, smuggled into the country during 1997, according to a Revenue Commissioner, Mr Frank Daly.
