Two men have been charged in Belfast following the largest-ever seizure of smuggled cigarettes and alcohol in Northern Ireland.
More than 11 million cigarettes and 15,000 litres of vodka were seized in a joint customs-RUC operation at Mountnorris, near Markethill, Co Armagh, on Monday. The unpaid duty on the smuggled goods amounted to over £1 million sterling.
At Belfast Magistrates' Court yesterday Mr John Gerard Convery, a 40-year-old farmer, from Chancellors Road, Newry, Co Down, and Mr Edward Magill (32), from Canal Bank, Poyntzpass, Co Armagh, were charged with smuggling part of the huge consignment of l4,400 litres of vodka and 400,000 cigarettes at the port of Immingham, east Lincolnshire, on Sunday, after it arrived from Rotterdam.
A detective said he could connect both men with the charge. They were remanded on bail for a week. Bail terms were cash lodgments of £10,000 for each with sureties of £50,000.