Revenue customs officers have seized over 5m cigarettes with an estimated retail value of around €2.5m at the Port of Cork.
The seizure took place yesterday when the ‘Eton’ brand cigarettes were uncovered in a container that arrived from Malaysia.
They had been described on the manifest as cardboard boxes.
An investigation is under way into the seizure.
Separately, in two other operations revenue customs officers seized a further 22,200 cigarettes and 300 litres of alcohol.
The alcohol and 4,200 cigarettes (with an estimated retail value of around €5,400) were discovered at Dublin Port today, when officers stopped and searched an Irish registered van that disembarked a ferry from Liverpool.
The van was driven by an Irish resident Lithuanian national conducting a courier business.
Meanwhile, in the other seizure yesterday, officers seized 18,000 ‘Winston’ brand cigarettes with an estimated retail value of nearly €9,000 at Dublin Airport.
The cigarettes were found in the luggage of a 25-year-old Moldovan woman, who arrived on a flight from Moscow.
