Customs seize 16 million cigarettes worth €5m this month

CUSTOMS have seized 16 million smuggled cigarettes at Cork Port this month, with a potential loss in taxes of more than €5m to the Exchequer.

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.