Smuggling costs State millions of euro

OVER €5m in revenue is estimated to have been lost to the state in the first four months of this year as a result of smuggling.

Cross-Border paramilitary and criminal gangs are earning tens of millions of euro every year from booming trades in oil, cigarettes, alcohol and counterfeit goods. Preliminary figures so far this year show that:

lMore than 13m cigarettes have been seized, with a retail value of more than €4.2m, and a loss to the state of €3.3m.