Customs seize 16 million cigarettes worth €5m this month
It brings to almost 23m the total number of cigarettes intercepted at the port so far this year, far more than was seized in the last five years.
The haul represents a quarter of the total number of smuggled cigarettes (89m) seized nationally this year.
In two seizures which have not been publicised to date, Customs officers at Cork Port seized seven million cigarettes last week and eight million cigarettes two weeks before that.
The two brands, Romantic and Oki, have not been seen by officers before, leading to suspicions they may have been destined for the British market.
Customs at Cork Port have noticed a substantial increase in traffic in the last six months. It is thought the success of the Customs X-ray scanner at Dublin Port has driven much of the trade south.
A second X-ray scanner – bought last year – is based in Rosslare, and is used in other ports during the year.
A Customs spokesman said the seizures at Cork Port resulted from an increased focus on containers, the establishment of a dedicated unit last October and international cooperation. He said while the bulk of the seizures were from container traffic, 750,000 cigarettes and over 100kg of tobacco have been intercepted at Cork and Shannon airports.
He said in the same period 550kg of tobacco and more than one million cigarettes have been seized inland in operations aimed at the illegal selling of tobacco.
As a result of one operation, an individual was jailed for four months at Cork District Cork last Thursday for selling untaxed tobacco.
Some 89.6m cigarettes have been seized so far this year nationwide, with an estimated retail value of almost €38m.
Last year saw a record haul of 218 million, including 120 million cigarettes at Greenore Port, Co Louth, last October, the biggest ever seizure in the EU.
The tally for 2008 was 135 million.
