Three men have been arrested following the seizure of 7 million contraband cigarettes in west Dublin today.
The haul was uncovered at Baldonnell Business Park as it was being offloaded from a 40 foot container.
Three Irish men, one in his forties and two in their twenties were arrested at the premises, and were tonight being held for questioning.
The 'BusinessMan' brand cigarettes had a potential a retail value of €2.9m and could have caused a loss of €2.3 million to the Exchequer if sold on the black market.
They arrived into Belfast Port on Monday from Malaysia and were declared to customs as "wooden flooring" before being transported to Dublin.
The Revenue Customs Service, HMRC Customs Northern Ireland, the PSNI and Garda were among the bodies involved in the joint operation.
Some 62 million cigarettes with a retail value of €26m have been seized by Customs officers so far this year.