Over half a million cigarettes have been seized over the past four days at Dublin airport, as a result of an investigation focusing on tobacco smuggling gangs from Lithuania.
The main operation carried out by officers of Revenue Customs service, which was codenamed "Scuab" targeted flights from Kaunas in Lithuania.
As part of the investigation, officers seized 120,000 cigarettes from 20 passengers on a flight from the Lithuanian capital on Saturday evening. Another flight from Kaunas was targeted on Sunday where an additional 77,000 cigarettes were seized.
Meanwhile, a further 88,600 cigarettes were seized from a number of individuals on a flight from Kaunas this morning.
Another operation targeted against smuggling from the Canary Islands, led to the seizure of 151,000 cigarettes and 14kgs of tobacco. A further 120,640 cigarettes were recovered from couriers arriving from other source countries.
According to customs officials, the cigarettes seized are valued at approximately €223,000 with a potential loss to Revenue of €185,000.
Brands seized include L&M, Marlboro, CK, West, Dorchester and Kent.
A number of people were questioned in relation the seizures and prosecution files are currently being prepared.
