CUSTOMS OFFICERS backed up by gardaí have made a multimillion euro seizure of cigarettes following an intelligence-led search of a premises in Co Monaghan.
The smuggled haul of nine million President-brand cigarettes has an estimated retail value of €3.8 million.
The officers swooped on Saturday on a large shed used as a warehouse at Clontibret, about five miles from Monaghan town and a short distance from the Border at south Armagh.
The officers ordered a number of people in the shed to lie on the ground while the search was conducted. An official said the cigarettes were smuggled into the country in a 40ft container labelled “sports socks” at Dublin Port. The container arrived at the port on a ship from Malaysia via Rotterdam before being moved to Co Monaghan.
The swoop is believed to have followed a tip-off and subsequent surveillance operation in the Monaghan area on Saturday.
The raid team also confiscated a number of mobile phones from people who were engaged in off-loading furniture from a lorry at the shed.
Revenue authorities estimated the seizure represented a potential loss of €3.2 million to the Irish exchequer, and they have said the seizure is part of a strategy to combat a huge wave of tobacco smuggling.
The latest seizure brings to over 100 million the number of cigarettes seized by Customs so far this year.
Collectively these hauls represent a potential loss of up to €45 million to the exchequer.
A Revenue spokesman said smuggled tobacco products “provide an unknown set of health risks and are funding criminal activity”.
A number of men were questioned about the seizure, and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
