Three men arrested over the seizure of 7 million contraband cigarettes in west Dublin yesterday have been released.
The haul was uncovered at Baldonnell Business Park as it was being offloaded from a 12-metre container.
Three Irish men, one in his 40s and two in their 20s were arrested at the premises, were questioned last night before being released in the early hours of this morning. A Garda spokesman said today a file on the case was being prepared for the DPP.
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.