REVENUE OFFICERS HAVE seized 9.6 million cigarettes that arrived into Dublin Port on a vessel from Rotterdam.

The retail value of the contraband is almost €4.5 million, representing a potential loss to the Exchequer of around €3.8 million.

The seized cigarettes, branded “Excellence”, were found in a shipping container marked “tyres” when the Revenue’s mobile x-ray scanner was used as a result of routine profiling.

This specific scanner has been operational since January and cost nearly €1.7 million. However, it has detected significant quantities of drugs, illicit cigarettes and alcohol as well as other banned items in that time – including a €37.5 million cannabis seizure in January alone.

One scanner searches at least 2,500 containers every year which have been deemed suspicious.

The seized cigarettes are worth almost €4.5 million. Revenue Revenue

Revenue said the operation targeted “the supply of illicit tobacco products with a view to disrupting the support chain, seizing the illicit product and prosecuting those responsible”.

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