Man who helped smuggle 10m cigarettes jailed for three years

A man who facilitated the importation of 10 million illegal cigarettes from the Netherlands by supplying the necessary documentation to get the containers into the country has been sentenced to three years.

Graham Costigan (42), of Santry Court, Santry, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to evasion of excise duty and attempted evasion of excise duty on cigarettes on September 16th, 2013. The potential loss to the exchequer was more than €4 million.

Det Garda Paul Kane said Costigan was not the principal target of the operation. He said six men including Costigan and the driver of a lorry were arrested, but Costigan was the only one charged.

Judge Melanie Greally said the "public interest requires that a custodial sentence be imposed" before she sentenced Costigan to three years in prison with the final 18 months suspended on strict conditions.