Customs officers have seized cigarettes in Dublin with an estimated street value of €3.8 million.
Some nine million cigarettes were seized at Dublin Port as part of an ongoing operation targeting the supply and sale of illegal cigarettes.
This brings the total amount of cigarettes seized in Ireland this year to 128.9 million. Some €55 million worth of cigarettes were seized in the first seven months of 2010, a loss to the exchequer of approximately €43 million.
Officers intercepted and examined a container with its contents described as "disposable cups".
The Benson & Hedges brand cigarettes were hidden in the container which arrived into Dublin Port from China, a Revenue spokeswoman said.
The cigarette packets carried a UK government health warning and it is believed they were destined for the UK market.
Retailers Against Smuggling, the representative group for Ireland’s tobacco retailers said Irish shops collectively lost €692 million in lost sales from tobacco being sold illegally on the black market in 2009.
The group said tobacco was an important part of a retailer’s income; constituting as much as 40 per cent of overall turnover on average.
Praising the work of Customs officials today, the group said: "Cigarette smuggling is perceived as being a victimless crime but it is having a detrimental effect on the Irish retailer".
Spokesman Benny Gilsenan added: "We are still being seen as the soft touch by international criminals despite our fines structure being reviewed earlier this year".
The Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee (ITMAC) said Ireland is targeted by criminal gangs from across Europe and for every seizure that is caught many more are getting through and making profits for criminal gangs of up to €3million per week.
“In 2009 the largest fine handed out for cigarette smuggling was €3,500. This compared to the amount that can be made from illegal tobacco smuggling does not act as a deterrent to criminals.” a spokesperson for ITMAC said.