Five men have been arrested after three million suspected illegal cigarettes were seized in Co Fermanagh.
Officers from HM Revenue & Customs and the police seized the illegal cigarettes on Thursday, December 3 after attending a property in Enniskillen.
The haul of cigarettes, believed to be worth £1.3million in lost duty and taxes, were being unloaded from a container when they were seized.
They had been transported in a container declared as tinned peas from Dublin Port to Enniskillen.
Approximately €3,500 in cash was also seized in the operation which involved the Irish Revenue Commissioners and Dutch authorities.
Steve Tracey, Assistant Director, Fraud Investigation Service, HMRC, said: “HMRC and our partner agencies are continuing to work together and are prepared to deploy where necessary to disrupt and dismantle the illicit trade of tobacco and other forms of criminality.
“Multi-agency investigations mounted by the Joint Agency Task Force show what can be achieved by our ongoing cooperation across jurisdictions to tackle criminality and demonstrates that we are committed to working with each other, at every level and in every location to tackle organised crime on a cross border basis.”
The five men arrested by HMRC, aged between 28 and 67, were released pending a report to the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland.
Investigations are continuing.
