Over the past week, Revenue officers seized contraband with an estimated value of almost €200,000 in various operations in Dublin, the Midlands, and Rosslare Europort.
The detections were made as a result of risk profiling and intelligence led operations, and included the following: 6.7 kg of herbal cannabis, with an estimated value of €134,000, 3,800 cigarettes and 1kg of tobacco with an estimated value of over €4,300 and with an estimated loss to the Exchequer of over €3,200, various illicit drugs, with an estimated value of €5,970, and 341 counterfeit items, with an estimated value of over €52,450 The herbal cannabis and illicit drugs were discovered, with the assistance of detector dogs Sam, Ciara and Enzo, whilst Revenue officers were examining parcels at premises in Dublin and the Midlands. The parcels originated from USA, the UK, Thailand, India, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, and were destined for addresses nationwide. The counterfeit goods were seized as they were confirmed by the Rights Holder to have infringed on Intellectual Property Rights. In addition to the above, over 215 litres of alcohol, with a retail value of over €3,100 and representing a potential loss to the Exchequer €1,700 was seized in Rosslare Europort and the Midlands. Two weapons were also seized in the Midlands, with an estimated value of over €40. Investigations into all seizures are ongoing. These seizures are part of Revenue’s ongoing operations targeting smuggling and shadow economy activity. If businesses, or members of the public, have any information regarding smuggling, they can contact Revenue in confidence on 1800 295 295. The various illicit drugs consisted of 1,774 Alprazolam, Benzodiazepine, Diazepam, Zolpidem and Zopiclone tablets, 30 canisters of nitrous oxide, 33 ml of cannabis oil, 11.1g of butane honey, 73.11g of cannabis resin and 514.6g of edibles. The counterfeit good consisted of goods branded White Fox, Adidas, Balenciaga, Canada Goose, Dior, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Moncler, New Balance, Nike, North Face, On Cloud, Crocs, Asics, and Ugg. The seized alcohol consisted of 29.4l of beer, 114.75l of wine, 22.7l of spirits and 47.5l of unlabelled and unidentified alcohol. The cigarettes and tobacco seized were of various brands, and the weapons seized were telescopic batons.