Children used to smuggle cigarettes

Children are being used by organised syndicates smuggling huge amounts of cigarettes into Northern Ireland, it was revealed tonight.

As Customs and Excise officers carried out a major crackdown they revealed that children were among those being used to try and get suitcase loads of cigarettes through Belfast International Airport.

“We have had occasions where kids have been used to carry the cases containing the tobacco – the idea being customs won’t stop them,” said a spokesman.

In the past 10 days more than 800,000 smuggled cigarettes and 20 kilos of hand-rolling tobacco have been seized at the airport.

Smuggling from countries where cigarettes are much cheaper than the UK is a multi-million pound business in Northern Ireland.

There was no shortage of volunteers of “mules” to try and bring the contraband in, said Colin McAllister, head of the Customs and Excise anti-smuggling unit in Northern Ireland.

He said there were individuals who just took a chance when coming back from holiday.

Then there were the organised syndicates. “Large groups deliberately using package holidays, going out on charter flights to disguise themselves,” he said.

Cigarettes on which no duty had been paid were smuggled back through the airport and sold on.

There were markets in clubs, workplaces and car boot sales, he said.

Those caught face confiscation of their booty and potential prosecution.

There was little protest or claims of confusion about allowance limits when a smuggler was stopped at the airport, said Mr McAllister.

“Who goes out and buys 30,000 cigarettes,” he said.