Contraband was aimed to flood Christmas market
“This is a significant strike against organised crime,” Garda Commissioner, Fachtna Murphy said.
The ship, which had left the Philippines for Ireland last month, was impounded, as were the lorries which carried away the contraband and nine men remained in custody last night after the multi-agency operation.
Five locations in Louth were searched, including a commercial warehouse.
Sources believe the shipment was organised, at an approximate cost of €3.5 million, by criminals operating on both sides of the border.
One customs source said, “this seizure will send out shock waves”.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern said, “These were obviously destined for the Christmas market and if they had not been seized there would have been a loss of legitimate income to the state.”
The Revenue Commissioners estimate the cigarettes would have been sold for around €50m and represented a loss of around €40m to the state in taxes and excise duties.
The cigarettes are thought to have been produced in the Philippines and the vessel was kept under surveillance from when it left there on September 15 until it docked in Greenore in the early hours of yesterday.
The Irish Tobacco Manufacturers’ Advisory Committee (ITMAC) congratulated customs officers in the wake of the seizure.
An ITMAC spokesperson said: “We congratulate all the agencies involved in the state’s largest seizure to date. Non Irish Duty Paid cigarettes (NIDP) have cost this country €526m this year. €526m is an unacceptable loss of Government revenue during recessionary times. The expected loss to the Exchequer for 2010 is set to reach €616m – Ireland can’t afford to ignore NIDP any longer.”
The level of illegal trade in cigarettes in Ireland was alarming, the spokesperson added.
“Fakes look just like the real thing, even down to the Irish health warnings and the Irish tax stamp. People need to be aware that even though it looks like the legitimate product, it may not be.”
ITMAC said it will continue to work with the authorities “to eradicate this illicit trade”.
The MV Anne Scan is a general cargo vessel around 80m in length which is German-owned but was chartered from the Philippines.
The documents with the cargo stated it was animal feed but the multi-agency investigation suspected it was contraband cigarettes.
Customs officers, with support from armed gardaí were at Greenore Port when the shipment was being off-loaded and they allowed four articulated trucks, each carrying 20 bags of the ‘feed’ to leave the port for a commercial warehouse near Dundalk. Tthey were under surveillance at all times.
When officers made themselves known at the warehouse and at the port nine arrests were made.
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