Nine quizzed over Europe's largest cigarette seizure

A ship’s captain was tonight among nine men being quizzed by detectives after customs officials seized Europe’s largest ever haul of smuggled cigarettes.

More than 120 million cigarettes – valued at €50m - were stuffed in animal feed bags in a vessel that sailed here from the Philippines.

Elite armed police swooped and raided four premises as the shipment was being delivered to an importer in the Co Louth area, just south of the border.

The operation – codenamed Samhna – targeted the suspected criminal activities of an organised crime group operating both north and south of the border.

Gardaí are probing if the massive haul is linked with dissident republicans.

Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said the operation was a significant strike against organised crime.

“The success of the operation illustrates the results and benefits that flow from close inter-agency co-operation,” he added.

With 80,000 cigarettes packed into each of the 1,489 bags the haul of Palace and Chelsea brands would have cost the Exchequer €40m.

The Anne Scan was monitored after it left the Philippines last month.

The Irish Navy tracked the vessel as it approached Irish waters from the Mediterranean and, with the customs cutter vessel, kept it under surveillance as it sailed up the Irish Sea.

It docked at Greenore Port, Co Louth, on Monday morning before its load was removed earlier today.

As the cargo was delivered agencies – including the Republic’s Revenue’s Customs Service, An Garda Siochana, The Criminal Assets Bureau, the Irish Naval Service and Air Corps and in the North, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), and the Police Service of Northern Ireland – moved in.

The ship’s captain and his first officer, a Ukrainian in his 40s and a Lithuanian in his 50s, were detained.

Seven Irish men, including two from Co Armagh in the North, who are aged between 19 and mid 40s were arrested as the premises were being raided.

They can be held for 24 hours under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at garda stations in Louth and Monaghan.

More than 150 officers from the various Irish and UK agencies were involved in the operation.

Revenue Commissioner Liam Irwin said the success was a credit to the close working arrangements and co-operation between the various law enforcement agencies both nationally and internationally.

“Criminals have no respect for national borders and international co-operation is now more essential than ever for law enforcement agencies,” he said.

“This is a shining example of a multinational, multi-agency response to criminal activity and all the agencies involved should be commended for the part they played in this successful operation.”

Prior to today’s discovery, the largest ever seizure in the UK was 42.6 million cigarettes, while a record 70 million were discovered being smuggled in to the Republic.

HMRC’s John Whiting said the smuggling attempt was organised crime on a global scale.

“The gangs behind this form of criminality are motivated solely by greed and personal gain,” said Mr Whiting, assistant director, criminal investigation.

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), which was also involved, will co-ordinate the international inquiries which will form part of the follow-up investigations.