среда, 28 октября 2009 г.

Nine held over cigarette haul

Gardaí are continuing to question nine men in connection with a seizure of illegal cigarettes last night.
More than 120 million illegal cigarettes, worth an estimated €50 million, were discovered on a ship in Greenore, Co Louth yesterday, the largest seizure in the history of the State.
The men were arrested following a Revenue Customs Service operation which was supported by the Garda.
The nine men include seven Irish nationals aged between 19 and mid-40s, one Lithuanian in his 50s and one Ukrainian in his 40s.
They are being detained under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 at Garda stations in Cos Louth and Monaghan.
The cigarettes are thought to have been produced in the Philippines. The vessel was kept under surveillance from when it left the Philippines on September 15th until it docked in Greenore early yesterday morning.
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan today welcomed the seizure and said smuggling has a serious impact on the State¿s tax revenue. Had these cigarettes not been seized, they could have represented an estimated loss of €40 million of tax revenue to public services,¿ he said. ¿This potential €40 million shortfall equates to the cost of employing over 700 teachers in our education system. Citizens should remember that the purchase of illegal contraband directly affects our public service.A former commander at Scotland Yard today said smugglers may be targeting Ireland because of lenient penalties handed out by courts.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland , John O'Connor said that cigarette smuggling was seen as a less serious crime than smuggling hard drugs, where sentences can be much harsher.
"Ireland has been seen to be a fairly attractive staging post simply because if you look historically at the penalties that have been imposed by Irish courts for people smuggling cigarettes, I think the average is a fine of €500," he said.
"If you look at the profits involved in smuggling drugs, they're probably greater but the consequences of getting caught are much harsher."
He added that there was a certain amount of public apathy towards the issue of tobacco smuggling and called for a coordinated approach to the problem.
"There are a lot of things that can be done in Ireland to tighten up the problem of tobacco smuggling. It's very difficult to get to the source and stop it but It's a global black economy that really needs to be tackled in a coordinated way."

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