Ireland

Cigarettes worth over €357K hidden in hot tubs

Hot tubs were lined with contraband cigarettes
Hot tubs were lined with contraband cigarettes Hot tubs were lined with contraband cigarettes

SMUGGLERS used hot tubs in a botched attempt to sneak cigarettes with a retail value of over €357,000 past customs officials at Rosslare Europort.

The load, which arrived from Cherbourg in a Lithuanian-registered truck late on Saturday night, was identified as suspicious in routine profiling by the Republic’s revenue officers.

A scanner was used to discover the stash hidden in a number of hot tubs. The cigarettes were branded Minsk Superslip, Minsk Short and NZ Gold Superslip.

The truck was seized. The driver, a man in his twenties, was questioned and later released.

Last week, revenue officers and gardaí seized 445,000 cigarettes with a retail value of approximately €222,500 that had been hidden inside mannequins in Cork.

Sniffer dog Harvey uncovered around 42,000 unstamped NZ Slim cigarettes at a commercial premises in Cork city and a further 403,000 ‘NZ Slims and Septs cigarettes were seized in follow-up searches in Skibbereen.

A UK registered van was also seized while two Polish males and one Lithuanian male, all in their thrirties, were interviewed.