200,000 cheap cigarettes seized in Cork

Customs officers and gardai have seized some 200,000 smuggled cheap cigarettes in Cork. The cheap cigarettes were seized yesterday in a number of operations, the Revenue Commissioners said today. "A Moldovan national was intercepted in a motor vehicle in Fermoy and, following a search of the vehicle, 60,000 smuggled cheap cigarettes and the motor vehicle were seized. In a follow-up operation in the north side of Cork city a further 22,000 cheap cigarettes were discovered," a statement said. In a separate operation involving surveillance of eastern European flights into Cork, approximately 110,000 cheap cigarettes were seized. A number of people have been questioned, and files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The cheap cigarettes brands are a mixture of Marlboro, cheap Marlboro Lights & L&M. Revenue said a Lithuanian man was last week sentenced to one month in prison by Cork District Court for the attempted evasion of payment of excise duty on 17,560 cigarettes. The man had arrived in Cork airport on a flight from Amsterdam on January 30th, having travelled from the Ukraine, when he was stopped by Customs. Some 500,000 cheap cigarettes with a value of €182,000 and a potential loss of revenue amounting to €146,000 have been seized in Cork to date this year, Revenue said.