Hundreds of bottles of alcohol seized at airports

HUNDREDS of bottles of alcohol and other goods were seized by airport police at regional airports over Christmas, figures show.

Wheelie bins at Dublin Airport were left bulging with items confiscated over Christmas, while other airports also seized costly champagne bottles and cosmetics from departing passengers.

Officers at Cork Airport seized 250 bottles of wine, spirits, beers, champagne and liqueurs since EU restrictions on liquids began in November. Children’s charity Barnardos picked up two batches of confiscated alcoholic goods to sell or use as raffle prizes. Other unopened goods exceeding the 100ml restriction were donated to the Cork Simon Community.

The airport handled 75,000 passengers between December 22 and New Year’s Eve.

Meanwhile, Shannon Airport destroyed confiscated soft drinks and creams as well as other sealed items taken aside by airport police. These included shower gels, water and cans. No real high-value goods were seized from the 135,000 passengers using Shannon over two weeks at Christmas.

Elsewhere, Knock Airport confirmed that hundreds of goods were confiscated. Passengers going through the independent airport were forced to hand over 347 bottles of mainly soft drinks, 10 bottles of alcohol and 263 deodorants, perfumes and jams. The majority of goods were dumped during December and November. However, airport security reported no record of confiscating holy water from passengers travelling to or from the nearby shrine.

At Donegal Airport, up to three liquid items per flight are being removed by security daily. Officials confiscated only one bottle of wine from one passenger out of almost 1,500 passengers over the holidays. All sealed items are donated to the county’s Dungloe District Hospital.

Meanwhile, Waterford Airport said security picked up “very little” alcohol but mostly deodorants and expensive aftershaves.

General manager Aidan Power said: “There were cosmetics and perfumes. Some were unopened, it was a terrible shame.”

Up to two costly items per flight are being confiscated, as well as three other types of items such as sprays or deodorants.

Sligo Airport stated that the majority of its passengers had complied with EU liquid restrictions. Very little, if any seizures, were being made from its 200 daily passengers.