Huge haul of lethal cigarettes impounded
Former IRA gang now smuggling phoney brands laced with arsenic
CUSTOMS officers seized almost 60 million "counterfeit" cigarettes smuggled into the country by major criminal gangs, the biggest being the former south Armagh IRA brigade, it has emerged.
Tests on the counterfeit cigarettes, including fake packets of the popular John Player Blue, have shown that they can contain dangerously high levels of poisons including arsenic. The cigarettes are manufactured in clandestine factories in China and north Africa and have been found to contain floor sweepings, sawdust and toxic chemicals.
Senior gardai have told the Sunday Independent that former IRA members from south Armagh are responsible for smuggling cigarettes worth millions of euro over the past few years.
Cigarette smuggling is one of the fastest growing and most lucrative forms of crime in the State. Customs officers seized a record 135.2 million cigarettes last year, almost twice as many as the amount seized in 2007. Of the total seized last year, 56.82 million were identified as counterfeit product.
The bulk of the seized tobacco, however, was being smuggled into the country in suitcases -- most of it from eastern European countries and former Soviet states outside the EU -- by organised eastern European crime gangs who have established distribution networks here.
However, holidaymakers -- including large numbers from the North travelling through Dublin Airport -- have also been found to be busy smugglers. Cigarettes can be bought for as little as €14 a carton in the Canary Islands and Tenerife, making a saving of up to €67 a carton. Ireland has one of the highest tobacco prices in the EU and among the highest in the world, so it has become a major target for all levels of smugglers. A customs source told the Sunday Independent that "ant" smuggling -- the terms used for the high-frequency movements of low-volume of product per trip is still one of the biggest sources of smuggled tobacco.
Eastern European gangs based here are using an army of carriers to move the product. Cheap flights to eastern Europe are popular routes.
The source said: "The modus operandi for smuggling cigarettes into the Republic of Ireland during 2008 is comparable with previous years. In the case of smuggling by passengers arriving by air, the predominant countries of origin are the Canaries and eastern Europe -- Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Czech Republic.
"In relation to smuggling from the Canaries, the pattern has been consistent for many years -- the vast majority of persons detected being residents of Northern Ireland. In relation to smuggling from eastern Europe; ant smuggling by air by eastern European-based criminal gangs is a trend which continues to be a significant problem.
"In the case of seizures involving containerised traffic, it was noticeable in two cases recorded in 2008 the type of containers used were 45-foot, high-cube containers with no cover-load used. This was so that they could smuggle the maximum number of cigarettes -- one had 9,060,000 cigarettes, the other had 11,603,400. In addition, in one case recorded in 2008, four containers moving on one bill of lading were found to contain 25.8m cigarettes -- one of the largest single seizures ever recorded by the Irish Customs Service."
Two detections of counterfeit John Player King Size Blue smuggled from China were felt to be highly significant. John Player Blue is not an international brand, but a domestic product holding 19 per cent share of the legitimate Irish market. The brand is not sold in other countries except for a few Irish tourist areas in Spain and Portugal.
The source added: "All freight consignments arriving from outside the EU require to be formally declared to Customs following arrival and prior to onwards movement from the container compound/transit shed. The declaration is a legal one by means of Customs Entry which accounts for all the relevant duties.
"In the case of contraband cigarettes, they are usually concealed within or behind other goods. The cover-load is declared on a Customs entry and relevant duties are paid. The cigarettes are not declared. When the load has cleared Customs it is free to leave the compound."
Last year there were 185 prosecutions and only 78 convictions. Part of the attraction of cigarette smuggling is that the offence doesn't attract the same severity of punishment as drug smuggling.
- JIM CUSACK
