19 convicted for illegal cigarette sales in 2009

NINETEEN adults were convicted for the illegal sale of untaxed cigarettes last year as crime gangs evade punishment by using children to sell smuggled tobacco.

Street markets selling illicit cigarettes are being targeted by a Revenue operation code-named Operation Downstream, which has seized 3.7 million cigarettes so far this year.

The Irish Examiner revealed children as young as 12 are being used to sell cigarettes for gangs who pay them €50 a day because the maximum penalty a minor can get is a caution under the Juvenile Liaison scheme.