Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SMOKE MACHINE
Illegal factory that churns out 250,000 cigs... EVERY HOUR
REVENUE chiefs busted a huge cigarette factory across the border churning out 250,000 counterfeit fags an hour.
Eleven Eastern European men were arrested in the joint Revenue and Garda blitz while the operation was in full production.
More than 40 tonnes of tobacco and 25 million “Mayfair” branded cigarettes were seized.
Had they made it on to the black market, the Irish Exchequer stood to lose £10.6million in tax.
Yesterday’s raid took place just before 8am in Jenkinstown, Co Louth.
It is the first time a commercial illicit cigarette production plant has been discovered in the Republic.
Irish revenue officers and members of the Garda Armed Support Unit seized all the components for manufacturing the product during the raid.
Eleven men – all from Eastern Europe and aged in their late 20s to late 50s – were arrested. They are being held in Dundalk Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.
A Revenue spokesman said: “This was a sophisticated self-contained operation with machinery capable of producing 250,000 illicit cigarettes per hour and pre-processing, processing and packaging facilities, along with living quarters.
“Illicit cigarettes that originated in this factory have previously been seized in both the UK and Ireland.
“If the finished cigarettes seized at the factory had reached the Irish market, the estimated loss to the Exchequer would have been approximately €12million.
“Investigations are ongoing, nationally and internationally.”
The raid came after a year-long investigation involving gardai, customs officers, the PSNI and HMRC.
ON CO LOUTH PLANT