Checkpoints set up after meat scare

242 checkpoints, manned by 300 gardai, have been set up on the border in a bid to stop the import of British animals and meat products into the Republic.

Gardai mounted the operation to enforce the Department of Agriculture ban on such products due to the foot and mouth scare in Britain.

Garda commissioner for the northern region, Kevin Carthy, said a number of options are open to gardai if an offending importer is caught at a checkpoint.