Seizure was biggest of its kind in history of the European Union

THE international sting operation which netted 120 million illegal cigarettes this week as they were being smuggled onto Irish shores was the biggest seizure of its kind in the history of the European Union.

That’s according to the Irish head of operations at Europe’s nerve centre for anti-fraud activity.

Austin Rowan, with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), said investigators would travel to Asia and track down where massive amounts of contraband had been sold.