Customs seizure of cigarettes rises by a third to 120 million

CUSTOMS officers seized nearly 120 million illegal cigarettes last year, more than a third greater than the previous year.

The cigarette hauls discovered by customs officers had a retail value of €43.5m, according to the end of year figures.

The previous year, customs officers discovered 74.5m cigarettes which had a retail value of €25.6m.

The cigarettes were found concealed in containers in ports, in freight vehicles and in dummy glass crates with many of the cigarette brands eventually identified as counterfeit.

Some of last year’s cigarette hauls included large consignments of the illegal contraband smuggled to Irish shores from as far away as Asia.

In May, officers found nearly €26m concealed in four 40ft containers which had arrived at Dublin Port from Singapore. Most of the Palace, Superking and L&B brands were later found to be counterfeit.

Another operation last year resulted in officers finding more than €11m in counterfeit Superking and Lambert & Butler cigarettes hidden in large containers which had arrived from Bilbao, Spain.

In another shipment of illegal cigarettes, officers discovered 1.5m B&H counterfeit cigarettes, which were found concealed in seven dummy glass crates after being brought over from Valencia, Spain.

According to the figures provided by customs, most of the illegal smuggling of cigarettes were intercepted at ports.

More than 81m cigarettes were discovered in maritime freight while just under 20m more of the illegal contraband were found during searches on passengers and their belongings coming through airports.

Of the 119m cigarettes confiscated by customs officers, so far about 48m have been found to be counterfeit, the Revenue said yesterday.

The figures for the seizures cover the period up to the end of November but officers say there were no major seizures made during the month of December.

Millions of other cigarettes were stopped coming into ports in Ireland throughout the year which had been shipped from France, Latvia, Vietnam, China and Cyprus.