Nine million cigarettes worth nearly €7m seized by Revenue at Dublin Port

The seizure was made on Friday as a result of routine profiling, and with the assistance of Revenue’s mobile x-ray scanner and detector dog Waffle.

The consignment of illegal cigarettes branded ‘Lambert & Butler’ had an estimated retail value of €6.8 million, representing a potential loss to the Exchequer of approximately €5.3 million.

Investigations are ongoing.

Revenue said in a statement: "This seizure is part of Revenue’s ongoing operations targeting the shadow economy and the supply and sale of illegal tobacco products. If businesses, or members of the public, have any information regarding smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on free phone number 1800 295 295."

The seizure comes following a €7.35m haul in January of this year and a €7.7m seizure in July 2021.

The largest seizure of cigarettes remain a massive €32m haul in Drogheda Port eight years ago. It was at the time the largest seizure of illegal cigarettes ever in Europe.