Swoop smokes out illegal traders
Aug 9, 2007, 12:25
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GARDAI and customs officials acting on tip-offs from corner shops swooped on homes across Dublin in a major offensive against rogue cigarette traders last week. Two people were cautioned in the dawn raids, as the authorities seized tobacco thought to have a retail value of around e100,000 as well as computers and documents. Both agreed to sell cigarettes to undercover agents during test purchases by officials carried out in the capital. Five homes – a house in Lucan and four flats in the north inner city – were searched during the operation which involved six gardai and 20 customs officers. In one home alone, around 200,000 cigarettes and almost 90kgs of rolling tobacco was seized. Files on the suspected illegal traders are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, according to Rory O’Connor, Principal Officer with the Revenue Customs. “Part of the reason for this operation was disruption but a major part of it was getting at the volumes,” he said. “We want to hit them where it hurts and the people who we intercepted this morning are players in the business.” Operation Hawkeye, which is headed by Mr O’Connor, is targeting the supply and sale of contraband cigarettes and tobacco across the country. He said ordinary corner shops that are being hit hard by the illegal trade are fighting back by alerting the customs and gardai to the criminals involved. “We have come under some pressure from legitimate retail outlets,” he said. “They are looking out their shop window and seeing people buying their 40 fags outside. They are saying these guys are doing them out of house and home.” Mr O’Connor said that some shop owners are experiencing a drop in trade of between 20 and 25 per cent, and they put it down to the illegal cigarettes. “They are relying on people who come in to buy their 20 fags to buy the likes of a newspaper, a sandwich and a bottle of coke as well,” he added. This year customs officials in Dublin Port and Airport have already seized up to 34 million cigarettes, with a potential loss to the exchequer of around e8.5million. Mr O’Connor said that while the authorities were initially focused on securing prosecutions the Revenue tax inspectors would also be notified. “Obviously we have an interest in people who are operating illegal trading in cigarettes from a tax point of view as well as from a customs point of view,” he said.
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