On Tuesday August 2, Revenue officers, assisted by detector dog Frankie, uncovered more than 18,000 contraband 'NZ' cigarettes in the checked in luggage of a 42 year old Estonian man.
The Revenue office says that the smuggled cigarettes have an estimated retail value of approximately €9,700 and represent a potential loss to the Exchequer of around €7,700. The man was arrested and brought before Dublin District Court, where Judge Miriam Walsh remanded him in custody to Cloverhill prison until Friday August 12.
The discovery comes shortly after Revenue seized 23,00 cigarettes, worth approximately €12,000, following routine profiling of traffic arriving in a ferry from France at Rosslare Europort at the end of June.
Research by KPMG at the beginning of June this year revealed that 15% of cigarettes consumed in Ireland in 2015 came from the illicit trade, marking a second year of growth in a row for the black market trade.
© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Niall Swan
