New figures from the tobacco industry show the illegal tobacco trade in Ireland is on the decline.

FORTY cannabis plants with a street value of €16,000 were discovered in a makeshift cannabis factory in a house in Togher in Cork this weekend.

More than 114 million cigarettes worth €38m have been seized by Customs over a three-month period.

CRIME gangs making €3 million a week from selling smuggled cigarettes are using children as young as 12 as “runners” to hold their cash.

A lorry load of black-market cigarettes worth about €3m was seized today.

CUSTOMS officers have disrupted an illegal tobacco distribution network following a significant seizure in Cork – the value of which was revised upwards last night.

THE largest seizure of contraband cigarettes in the history of the state was made in Greenore, Co Louth, yesterday on a ship carrying up to 120 million cigarettes, enough to flood the Irish market.

CIGARETTE smuggling is costing the state hundreds of millions of euro in lost levies.

Caroline O’Doherty warns Micheál Martin’s real battle might be after the ban.

The Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee (ITMAC) has expressed its regret that Charlie McCreevy has added 25c to a packet of 20 cigarettes.

FERGUS Finlay in his column (Irish Examiner, August 19) gave us a breathtaking display of hypocrisy.

THE State is to take on the tobacco giants in the courts to ensure tough new advertising bans stay in place, Health Minister Micheál Martin confirmed yesterday.