Ireland’s Revenue office seizes nearly $8.6m in smuggled cigarettes

The Office of the Revenue Commissioners, the Irish government agency responsible for customs, excise and taxation, said the illegally imported cigarettes arrived in containerized shipments from Vietnam and China via Rotterdam.    Ireland’s Office of the Revenue Commissioners, the government agency responsible for customs, excise and taxation, seized almost 6.5 million smuggled cigarettes at Dublin Port on Wednesday.
   The cigarettes arrived from Vietnam via Rotterdam, and have a retail value of 3.5 million euros (U.S. $3.99 million), Revenue said. They were found in a shipping container that was said to contain paper.
   The latest seizure brings the number of smuggled cigarettes entering the country in containerized cargo seized by Revenue to almost 15 million in the last two weeks alone.
   Last Tuesday, Revenue officers seized 8.3 million contraband cigarettes that had arrived into Dublin from China via Rotterdam. The consignment was seized after it got to County Limerick, about 123 miles southwest of Dublin.
   The consignment seized last week has a retail value of over 4 million euros, and was said to contain clothing.