Customs officers backed up by the Garda have seized almost 200,000 illegally imported cigarettes in Cork city and county in a series of operations over the past three days.
The smuggled cigarettes had a potential loss of revenue of €70,000 to the State.
The latest seizures bring the number of smuggled cigarettes seized in Cork since the start of the year to 500,000, with a total value of €180,000 and a potential loss in revenue of €146,000.
According to the Revenue Commissioners, the latest seizures included the recovery of some 60,000 cigarettes when Customs officers, backed up by gardaí, stopped a Moldovan man at a checkpoint in Fermoy.
In a follow-up operation in the Ballyvolane area of Cork city, Customs officers raided a house and recovered a further 22,000 illegally imported cigarettes.
In separate operations at Cork Airport, Customs officers seized another 110,000 illegally imported cigarettes following a surveillance operation on two Polish men who were disembarking from flights from eastern Europe.
Customs officers have questioned the Moldovan man and the two Polish men and files will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecution, who will decide if prosecutions are to follow.
The cigarette brands include Marlboro, Marlboro Lights, Camel and L & M. The seized cigarettes have been brought to a State warehouse in Dublin where they will be shredded and disposed of in an environmentally friendly way, a Customs spokesman said.
Last week, a Lithuanian man was sentenced to a month in prison after he was convicted at Cork District Court of attempting to evade paying exise duty on 17,560 cigarettes that he had smuggled in on a flight from Amsterdam, having travelled from Ukraine.
