CIGARETTES SEIZED by Customs officers in Rosslare Harbour, Co Wexford on Saturday had an estimated retail value of €1 million with a potential loss to the exchequer of more than €500,000.
Officers intercepted and examined a 40-foot container which had arrived from the French port of Cherbourg. Documents with the cargo stated the contents were slabs of stone.
A 49-year-old man was charged yesterday under section 119 of the Finance Act, 2001. He was remanded in custody and will appear before Cloverhill Court in Clondalkin, Dublin.
Retail Ireland, the Ibec-affiliated group that represents the retail sector, welcomed the seizure. Director Torlach Denihan said: “The Customs service are to be congratulated on their success at Rosslare, which will save the taxpayer roughly €500,000.
“Tobacco smuggling costs the State over €500 million in lost tax revenue every year. This money could, for instance, be used to pay for 1,300 hospital beds.”
Mr Denihan said it was disappointing the courts do not take a more serious view of tobacco smuggling and tend to impose fairly small fines.
In a separate operation, Customs officers based in Cork seized 3,000 cigarettes on the north side of the city on Saturday.
The seizure was made following an investigation into the distribution of leaflets to private residences advertising cheap cigarettes. Counterfeit John Player Blue and Bond cigarettes along with a vehicle, estimated to be worth €8,000, were seized in the operation. A man and a woman, both in their forties, were questioned.
The biggest seizure of smuggled cigarettes to date in Ireland was in October 2009 when 120 million cigarettes, worth about €50 million, were seized in Greenore port, Co Louth.
