€12m contraband seized around border, says report

Over €12m worth of drugs, tobacco, fuel and fake clothes have been seized in the past year as part of a major police crackdown on criminal gangs on both sides of the border, it was revealed today.

As chief constable Hugh Orde confirmed overall crime in Northern Ireland dropped by more than 10% with 14,000 fewer victims, the scale of the co-operation to halt contraband goods flooding into the North from the Republic and overseas emerged.