Criminals began enterprise day after ban introduced in June

By Edel Kennedy

Monday July 30 2007

ENTREPRENEURIAL smugglers began sneaking 10 packs of cigarettes into the country the day after the ban on smaller packs was introduced.

The Irish Independent has learned that customs officials at Dublin Airport had never seized a single packet of 10 cigarettes in over 30 years in operation - until 24 hours after the ban was introduced on June 1.

Shay Doyle, Manager of Customs Enforcement at Dublin Airport, said: “The smugglers are targeting market demand,” he said. “It’s a good example of how market sensitive they are.”

New figures show the vast majority of cigarettes are being smuggled in from Latvia, to cater for the huge number of Eastern European workers based here. Almost 60pc of seizures at the airport are from passengers originating in Riga, while 20pc are from those leaving the Canaries.

“The number of seizures from those coming in from Eastern Europe seemed to coincide with the numbers coming here to work,” said Mr Doyle.

“There was a market there and people moved very quickly to fill it. If you go back to the start of 2005, they were only smuggling in their own brand of cigarettes.

But in recent months things have changes and they seem to be going for brands that they can sell to the Irish market as well.”

Last year, 9.4 million cigarettes were seized on flights from Riga, compared to 12.4 million so far in 2007.

The main brands seized are the Philip Morris brands, Marlboro and L&M.

The customs officers have a series of warning signs they look out for when potential smugglers are arriving into the country.

Just last week they arrested a father and daughter who were attempting to smuggle 22,000 cigarettes into the country in their luggage. However, Tadeusza Chudzinski (65) and Ewa Chudzinski (24) were stopped when officials noticed they had landed that morning but were due to depart that same day at 4pm.

Mr Doyle said many would-be smugglers arrive into the country with little more than thousands of cigarettes and sandwiches.

“After they’ve been caught, they often ask the customs officers for their sandwiches back,” he laughed. Officials have a number of warning signs they watch out for, including the shape of the bag.

Often they can recognise there is something suspicious about the baggage simply by placing their hand on it.

But Mr Doyle said the smugglers are always trying to stay one step ahead.

Mr Doyle said: “Sometimes they try to disguise the contents of the bag by putting a pillow or even a blow-up swimming ring into it, to make it appear softer and more similar to clothing.

“Other times they hide in the toilets until they think all the others from the flight are gone and then they go to retrieve their bag. Others go to the baggage claim for flights from other countries and take the baggage tags to disguise where they have come from.”

He said that for the most part, the trips are organised by criminal gangs, but there are “some opportunists” who see it as a way to earn some extra cash.

The Revenue Commissioners estimate that after the cost of the original purchase and transportation, an individual or gang can make €1,500 in net profit on 10,000 cigarettes.

Ireland has the second most expensive cigarettes in the EU, while Latvia has the cheapest as just 98c for a 20-pack.

The vast majority of cigarettes are seized at Dublin Airport, with smaller quantities found on passengers landing in Shannon and Cork. The total seized in 2006 was 52.3 million and customs officials are expecting the figure to be far exceeded by the end of 2007.