New smuggling racket smashed after massive tobacco seizure
Customs officer Ray Sherlock, of the National Scanner Unit, yesterday with some of the eight tonnes of tobacco leaf seized at Dublin Port.
CUSTOMS officials have smashed a new smuggling racket after they seized tonnes of tobacco bound for an illegal cigarette factory operating here.
A series of checks by officers at Dublin Port uncovered a consignment of eight tonnes of tobacco leaf and all of the materials needed to manufacture up to 12 million cigarettes.
A senior customs officer last night said the smuggling attempt marked a new departure by criminals involved in the multi-million euro trade in illegal cigarettes.
If the attempt had been successful, it would have cost the Exchequer more than €4m in lost revenue.
The officers allowed a controlled delivery of the consignment and it was followed as it was taken from the port to a yard outside Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan.
The 40-foot container was then seized and taken back to the port for detailed forensic examination. The cigarette "factory" has not yet been located, but inquiries are continuing in the border region.
The haul had been packed on to pallets on the container and declared on the manifest as "paper". It arrived in the port on Monday from Holyhead and was later traced back to Brondby in Denmark.
Last night investigations were under way involving Customs and international agencies in a bid to find the origin of the loose tobacco.
The haul also included the filters, packaging and boxes required to make up 200-cigarette packs to be sold on the black market.
Suspicions were initially raised when the container was undergoing a routine profiling and officers then requested that the load be scanned. The scan prompted a physical search of the container and officers discovered the tobacco.
Senior investigators decided to allow the container to be picked up by a delivery company, whose staff were not aware of its real content, and kept watch as it was taken to the Carrickmacross address.
Detectives are also trying to establish which of the smuggling gangs was behind the importation and whether it had any paramilitary links.
"We don't know the identity of the smugglers yet. But it was a very well planned operation and we had not come across a load of loose tobacco of this size in the past," one officer told the Irish Independent.
Massive
However, investigators believe the consignment is not linked to last month's massive seizure of €50m worth of illegal cigarettes at Greenore Port in Co Louth.
William Hanley, a spokesman for Retailers Against Smuggling, called for Irish laws to be brought into line with other countries, saying we would continue to have tobacco and cigarette smuggling until greater deterrents existed.
Calling for stricter laws and penalties, he warned that local jobs would be at risk unless action was taken shortly. "We're staring down the barrel of redundancies unless the Government wakes up and fast."
- Tom Brady Security Editor
Irish Independent
