Customs officials have seized more than 12 million smuggled cigarettes from two separate loads that arrived in Dublin Port.
The tobacco has an estimated street value of €4.8 million
Half of the cigarettes had been labelled as hair extensions and arrived from Barcelona packed on to 25 pallets.
The Regal brand haul was trailed for a week before a driver with the container was stopped at a checkpoint at the M1 Dundalk South exit last night.
An Irish man arrested at the scene was later released.
Another load of six million contraband Souvenir branded cigarettes were seized on Saturday. The haul, which arrived from Vietnam, was concealed behind a cover load of wooden furniture.
“The operation involved lengthy surveillance and investigations by Customs in addition to support by An Garda Siochána based at Dundalk,” said a Customs spokeswoman. “Several persons have been interviewed and investigations are ongoing both nationally and internationally.”
Last week, Customs officers seized enough tobacco, cigarette paper, filters and packaging for 12 million cigarettes.
The €5 million shipment arrived at Dublin Port last Monday from Holyhead. The driver of the lorry was arrested when it pulled into a yard near the townland of Creevy near Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan, on Tuesday.