Limerick’s only licensed tobacconists is to stop selling cigarettes because of an “epidemic” of illegal trading of smuggled packs on city streets.

Ireland is a target for international crime gangs despite the best efforts of the Revenue Commissioners, a retailers’ group has claimed.

International gangs consider Ireland an easy target for smuggling, and will continue to operate here if stricter measures are not enforced, a retail group has warned.

The Government is being asked to tackle cigarette smuggling before the plain packaging bill is brought in.

A packet of cigarettes will cost €10 from today in a move welcomed by anti-tobacco campaigners.

The leniency of the courts and the lack of policing resources is ensuring that Ireland continues to be a prime target for international smugglers, a retail group has claimed.

The Irish Heart Foundation has slammed the "paltry" increase in excise duty on cigarettes and its failure to impose a so-called sugar tax on fizzy drinks in the Budget.

Retailers are appealing to the government to row back on new proposals which will see plain packaging being introduced on packets of cigarettes.

Plain pack cigarettes will mean fewer child smokers, two leading anti-smoking charities have claimed.

Ireland is set to become the second country in the world to introduce plain pack cigarettes, it emerged today.

Consumers buying illegal cigarettes should receive on-the-spot fines, said a member of a body seeking a crack down on smuggled goods.

Retailers are warning consumers about the danger of buying smuggled cigarettes.

FIVE-and-a-half billion cigarettes are smoked in this country each year, allowing the public purse to draw €1.5bn from the trade.

More than 38m contraband cigarettes worth almost €15m have been seized by Customs officials.

More than 38 million contraband cigarettes worth almost €15m have been seized by Customs officials.

OVER 100 gardaí as well as officials from Revenue and the Criminal Assets Bureau were yesterday involved in a major early morning operation which led to 15 arrests and the discovery of 100,000 contraband cigarettes.

THE last time Gemma Dwyer was robbed was the worst.

EIGHT million cigarettes smuggled into the country from China have been seized by customs officers and gardaí.

THREE hundred corner stores have been offered black-market tobacco to sell, research reveals.

Three hundred corner stores have been offered black-market tobacco to sell, research revealed today.

A MASSIVE haul of illegal cigarettes, worth an estimated €4 million, has been seized by customs officials at Dublin port.

A dedicated Garda taskforce is needed to tackle the black market trade in smuggled cigarettes, shopkeepers claimed today.

Youngsters are being used as mules by tobacco-smuggling gangs to go door-to-door delivering packets of cheap cigarettes in housing estates, it was claimed tonight.

CRIME bosses were set to earn around €20 million profit if the consignment of 120 million cigarettes was not intercepted by the state.