There was a 260 per cent increase in the amount of cigarettes seized by Revenue last year.
Almost 33 million euro worth were recovered.
Ireland has one of the highest retail prices for tobacco in Europe, and so it’s attractive for smugglers to try to import illicit cigarettes.
According to freedom of information figures, Revenue seized 48.2 million cigarettes last year.
That’s well over three times as many as the 13.4 million in 2019.
97 per cent of the cigarettes seized last year were in Dublin.
The next highest was 302,000 in Westmeath, followed by 274,000 in Cork.
The total value of the cigarettes seized by Revenue last year was 32.8 million euro – compared to 8.6 million the previous year.
Meanwhile, Revenue chiefs in Wexford seized cigarettes at Rosslare Europort as a result of routine checks.
29,600 cigarettes were found and seized when revenues stopped a Czech registered van that had disembarked a ferry from France.
With the assistance of their mobile x-ray scanner, the cigarettes were found hidden in a mattress.
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