Gallaher want NI meeting on cigs security

A leading tobacco firm today requested an urgent meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy to discuss security for its lorries along the border with the Republic.

A spokeswoman for Gallaher’s, which has a factory in Ballymena in Northern Ireland, confirmed the request was made following the hijacking of a lorry last December carrying cigarettes with a retail value of over £1m (€1.4m).