Revenue officers made a massive seizure at Dublin Port on Monday thanks to their highly trained sniffer dog, Milo.
On February 13, routine monitoring operations, including Milo and a high-tech mobile x-ray scanner, led officials to find 8 million illegal cigarettes en route into Dublin.
According to Revenue reports, the cigarettes had an estimated value of €6.32 million, which would have represented a potential loss to the Exchequer of around €4.95 million.
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The smuggled contraband, which was the Lambert & Butler brand, was found in a consignment that was marked as ‘food stuff’.
It originated from Poland and arrived into Dublin Port unaccompanied on a trailer, sent via Rotterdam.
Revenue officers say investigations are ongoing and ask that anyone who has information on further smuggling into Ireland, contacts them.
A statement published on Tuesday confirmed the seizure and said: “This seizure is part of Revenue’s ongoing operations targeting the shadow economy and the supply of illegal tobacco products.
“If businesses or members of the public have any information regarding smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on the free phone number 1800 295 295”.
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