Drug seizures by Customs fall by 50%

The Customs and Excise Service last year seized drugs with a street value of €33.7 million, down almost 50 per cent on 2001, new figures reveal. In 2002, the most significant trend was the continued seizure of large quantities of herbal cannabis, a relatively new drug in the Republic compared to cannabis resin.

More than €26 million worth of herbal cannabis was seized last year. This compared with €58 million seized in 2001 when a small number of very large seizures were intercepted.

Most of the herbal cannabis imported into the State in recent years has originated in South Africa and was detected in a small number of large consignments at Dublin Port. There have also been smaller seizures of the drug in passengers' luggage at Dublin Airport. These consignments were typically between 10 kg and 30 kg each.

The Customs and Excise Service has previously stated that seizures of herbal cannabis may have increased due to the rise in the number of non-nationals in the Republic. While cannabis resin was more popular with Irish drug users, herbal cannabis is more popular in many African countries.

Just over €4.7 million worth of cannabis resin was seized in 2002 and the value of cocaine seized was €1.97 million.

However, while drugs seizures were significantly down on 2001, that year was considerably higher than previous ones - including 2000 when just €11 million worth of drugs was seized.

Last year saw a decrease in seizures of contraband cigarettes. In total, 78 million cigarettes were seized, including 14 million at Dublin Airport. Most of the cigarettes detected at Dublin Airport had been brought in by passengers returning from destinations where cigarettes sell for less than half the price than Ireland.

However, in 2001 that figure was significantly higher with more than 161.2 million cigarettes seized.

In 2001, Operation Smokescreen aimed at detecting small quantities of cigarettes bought on the Internet and entering the State via the postal service. Most of the websites selling the product are based in countries such as Switzerland, Spain and Kazakhstan.

Last year Operation Smokescreen intercepted 1.4 million cigarettes from such sources, down from 2.64 million in 2001.

In 2002 there were 1,690 detections of the illegal use of duty-rebated marked gas oil, also known as "green diesel", up from 1,262 in 2001. Of the cases detected in 2002, just 156 proceeded to trial where total fines of €159,000 were imposed. The remainder of the cases were resolved by settlement payments, which totalled €880,000.

Linked to those cases, eight oil-laundering plants were detected in 2002, three in Monaghan, four in Louth and one in Donegal, and 270,000 litres of fuel were seized, mostly discovered at the laundering plants.

The Customs and Excise continued to work with the Criminal Assets Bureau last year through the provision of staff and disclosure of information.

A total of €10 million was paid over to Revenue by the Criminal Assets Bureau, down from  €23.49 million in 2001 but ahead of the €8.6 million sum in 2000.