Revenue seize tobacco worth over €2.4 million at Dublin Port
Revenue officers seized over 4 tonnes of tobacco at Dublin Port on June 16th. The smuggled tobacco was discovered concealed in boxes labelled as ‘wood briquettes’ which had originated in Germany. The tobacco has an estimated retail value of over €2.4 million representing a potential loss to the Exchequer of approximately €2 million. Investigations are ongoing.
Also separately, as a result of intelligence led operations that took place over the course of 15-16th June Revenue officers seized over 154,000 unstamped cigarettes and 46kgs of unstamped tobacco. The seizures were made with the assistance of detector dog Bill following the search, under warrant, of a number of premises in the Castleblayney, Carrickmacross and Clones areas of County Monaghan.
The illegal cigarettes, branded ‘Minsk Capital’ and ‘NZ’ and tobacco branded ‘Turner’ had been smuggled into the State from Belgium and Italy and have a combined estimated retail value of €116,000, representing a loss to the Exchequer of over €92,000. A Lithuanian man in his 40s and a number of Latvian nationals in their 30s and 40s were interviewed in relation to these seizures.
Finally, over the course of 12-13th June, as a result of routine profiling, Revenue officers seized 9,000 cigarettes and 21kgs of tobacco at Dublin Airport. The smuggled cigarettes, branded ‘Kent’ and ‘Dunhill’, were discovered in the checked baggage of a Romanian man who had disembarked a flight from Bacau, Romania while the tobacco, branded ‘Red Line CC50’ was discovered in the checked baggage of an Irish man who had disembarked a flight from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The seized cigarettes and tobacco have a combined estimated retail value of over €19,000, representing a potential loss to the Exchequer of €15,500. Investigations are ongoing.
These seizures are part of Revenue’s ongoing operations targeting the shadow economy and the supply and sale of illegal tobacco products. If businesses or members of the public have any information regarding smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on free phone number 1800 295 295.
