Over 1t of tobacco was seized at Dublin Port yesterday (Wednesday, August 11) in a load that was labelled as “potatoes”.
As part of a routine profiling, Revenue officials seized over 1,120kg of rolling tobacco at the port. The product was branded as ‘Flandria’.
The tobacco had an estimated value of €700,000, representing a potential loss to the exchequer of around €560,000.
The tobacco was discovered when officers searched a container that had arrived in Dublin port from Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The search, which was carried out with the assistance of Revenue’s mobile x-ray scanner, led to the discovery of the contraband.
It was concealed within a load that was manifested as “potatoes”. Investigations are ongoing, Revenue has said.
The seizure is part of Revenue’s ongoing operations targeting the ‘shadow economy’ and the supply and sale of illegal tobacco products in Ireland.
However, tobacco is not the only thing that is smuggled while disguised as agri-food products.
In March, Revenue carried out investigations after the seizure of drugs labelled as, among other things, ‘beef jerky’ at a mail centre in Athlone, Co. Westmeath.
Revenue officers seized 620 Zopiclone tablets and 5.7kg of various types of illegal drugs, including herbal cannabis, cannabis resin, amphetamine, synthetic cannabinoids and cannabis-infused edibles.
Authorities believed that the drugs in this seizure had a combined estimated value of almost €50,000 and were discovered in 23 separate parcels that originated in the UK and Spain.