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Andrei Pungovschi/AP/Press Association Images
Smuggling
Man caught with illegal cigarettes, charged and jailed in one day
Dublin District Court judge sends smuggler down for six months after he’s caught with nearly 10,000 illegal cigarettes.
CIGARETTE SMUGGLERS BEWARE. A 25-year-old Latvian man who was found with almost 10,000 cigarettes in his bag at Dublin Airport this morning was charged with excise tax evasion, appeared in court and given a six-month jail sentence – all on the same day.
Customs officers at the airport found the ‘Marshall’ brand cigarettes, worth about €4,225, in the man’s bag this morning. The man carrying them was arriving from the Canary Islands. If sold on the streets, the Exchequer would have lost €3,990 in taxes.
After the discovery was made at Dublin Airport this morning, the 25-year-old Latvian man was charged with evasion of excise duty and appeared in front of Judge Denis McLoughlin at Dublin District Court. He received a six-month jail term with 14 days to appeal.
Summary offences can be heard and ruled on by a district court judge without a jury.
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