Pubdate: Sat, 01 Jul 2000
Source: Irish Independent (Ireland)
Copyright: Independent Newspapers (Ireland) Ltd
Contact:  http://www.independent.ie/
Author: Anne Lucey

GANGS IN SWITCH TO BIG MONEY CIGARETTE SMUGGLING

Cigarette smuggling is now as lucrative as some forms of drug trafficking, 
to which it is closely linked.

Yet the public is largely unaware of the seriousness of the links, a 
conference heard yesterday.

``Illegal profits on a container load of cigarettes smuggled into Ireland 
is greater than on a load of cannabis,'' revenue commissioner Frank Daly 
told the G8 Lyon law enforcement sub-group on organised cigarette smuggling.

Senior police and customs from the EU, Russia, Canada and the US were among 
the 45 delegates at the Killarney conference hosted by this country's Revenue.

Pounds 25m Seizures

In the past 18 months alone 124m cigarettes were seized in the Republic 
where excise duty on tobacco accounts for 4pc of total tax receipts 
including 9.5m cigarettes on Monday last. Total retail value of the 
seizures: just under pounds 25m.

However, while the loss of revenue to the Exchequer on every 10m smuggled 
cigarettes is close to pounds 1.5m, the savings on seizures by the Revenue 
since 1994 is more than pounds 23m.

But the consequences of cigarette smuggling are not confined to the massive 
loss of revenues to national exchequers, said Mr Daly. ``There are also 
security and social implications resulting from the involvement of criminal 
gangs and subversive groups.''

The 1993 single European market and abolition of customs controls left 
loopholes for smugglers and many of those involved in cigarette smuggling 
are also involved in drugs. Senior Irish criminals are involved, along with 
the mafias of Italy and Russia.

The national freight intelligence unit set up by the Revenue Commissioners 
relies on intelligence gathering and international co-operation on suspect 
companies and criminal gangs, rather than spot checks, to detect cigarettes 
in freight, said principal officer Phonsey Croke. Finds have been found in 
containers packed among glassware, carpets, used car engines, women's 
clothing, suitcases and toilets.

The Canaries and China are big supply sources into Ireland, with couriers 
paid to holiday in the Canaries and bring back cigarettes, Mr Croke 
explained. But new x-ray machines at major airports and ferries here are 
effective in detecting cigarettes in luggage.

Now crime gangs are involved in selling smuggled tobacco products door to 
door in big housing estates.
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