A Finiish-built coaster which carried the largest-ever haul of smuggled cigarettes in the State's history fetched just €37,000 at auction in Dublin yesterday.
The 51-metre MV Anto was seized last December by Customs and Excise officers and gardaí in Dundalk. A Londoner who was caught trying to offload 70 million smuggled cigarettes from the vessel was jailed last month for 3½ years.
The vessel, registered in La Paz, Bolivia, was sold yesterday to a Dutch agent who is expected to have it towed to Holland for a refit.
Robert Terence Tibbs (29), of Cannington, London, pleaded guilty to attempting to evade Customs duties valued at €15,960,000, which were due on the haul seized on December 11th last year.
He had been aboard the MV Anto as it prepared to leave the United Arab Emirates for Ireland, via Gibraltar, with its load of contraband.
It left Gibraltar last December 1st, and berthed in Dundalk on the night of December 10th. During the early hours of the following morning, Customs officers and gardaí raided the vessel as containers were being unloaded.
Mr Tibbs was in the hold, and was one of seven men who fled the ship when the alarm was raised. He was detained a short time later at an exit barrier from the port, and pleaded guilty to the charge.