Cigarette smuggling - Penalties are far too low

THE crime gangs, many of them former members of the Provos, running this country’s tobacco smuggling rackets are onto a good thing.

The potential profits are multiples of any penalty that might be imposed — that is if any at all is imposed on anyone involved other than an irrelevant foot soldier selling contraband cigarettes on the streets in the rain.

Being convicted of selling drugs — other than tobacco — with a street value over €13,500 carries a mandatory 10-year jail term. However, a smuggler caught with a million contraband cigarettes faces a maximum fine of €126,000.