8 million smuggled cigarettes found in a container marked 'clothing'

The cigarettes had a retail value of €4 million and would have represented a loss of €2.9 million to the Exchequer.

ON TUESDAY, REVENUE officers seized 8.3 million contraband cigarettes, in an operation that involved their new x-ray machine and a detector dog named Grace.

The cigarettes have an estimated retail value of €4 million, and would have cost the Exchequer a total of €2.9 million.

The consignment had arrived in Dublin Port from China, via Rotterdam.

Cigarettes branded under the names Richmond, Eton and Gold Classic were found inside a shipping container.

The consignment was said to have been carrying “clothing”.

Following investigations on Tuesday and yesterday, a number of searchers were carried out under warrant at a premises in Co Limerick where the cigarettes were then seized.

Revenue said investigations are “ongoing with a view to prosecution”.

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