Customs seize €6m smuggled cigarettes

A criminal consortium led by Irish and British nationals would have earned up to €6m in profit if a massive consignment of smuggled cigarettes had not been intercepted at Drogheda Port yesterday.

Customs officers seized a total of 32m cigarettes and 4,500kg of tobacco with a legal retail value of around €14m. It is the largest such haul in Europe this year.

Revenue bosses said the operation, which involved law-enforcement agencies in three EU countries, targeted the activities of an “international crime group headed up by Irish and British nationals and based in Europe”.