€3.5 Million Cigarettes seized by Customs
In an operation code named 'Monarch' which spanned the weekend, officers from Revenue's Customs Service seized 8.25 million contraband 'Regal' cigarettes with a retail value of approximately €3.5 million and a potential loss to the exchequer of €2.95 million.
The cigarettes, which were declared on the manifest as 'aluminium foil trays', were discovered in a Lo/Lo container which had arrived at Dublin Port from China last Friday 10 July (10/07/2009).
Customs officers kept the container under surveillance on arrival into Dublin Port. The subsequent operation resulted in the seizure of a truck and trailer, the search of a private residence under warrant and the interviewing of several individuals.
Investigations are ongoing both nationally and internationally.
This latest seizure brings the total cigarettes seized by Customs to date to approximately 53 million with a retail value of approximately €22million.
[Ends 14/07/2009]