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.