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.