{"id":196,"date":"2020-02-03T20:29:55","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T20:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/?p=196"},"modified":"2020-02-03T20:29:55","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T20:29:55","slug":"general-election-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/2020\/02\/03\/general-election-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"More resources needed to tackle illegal smuggling in light of significant drop in tobacco products seizures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Retailers\nAgainst Smuggling (RAS) is calling on the next Government to consider further resources\nin the detection and prosecution of illegal smuggling of excisable goods. New\nfigures published by Revenue indicate that a new approach must be explored if we\nare going to stem the tide of illegal smuggling and give local legitimate\nretailers any chance against the flourishing black market. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nRevenue\u2019s Annual Report for 2019 illustrated that: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Revenue\nseized 3,215 cigarettes and 1,445 other tobacco products, at a total value of \u20ac10.52\nmillion, in 2019. <\/li><li>That\nis a 75% drop in the seizure of tobacco products since the same period in 2018\n(the total value was \u20ac41.29 million). <\/li><li>This\nis also easily the lowest haul for Revenue since records began in 2013 \u2013 the lowest\nbeing in 2017 with a total value of \u20ac20.5 million.&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>RAS\nwelcomes the Revenue\u2019s acknowledgement that the problem is increasingly hard to\ndetect, with criminal gangs now using inventive and complex smuggling and\nconcealment methods. A more collaborative approach in tackling the issue is\nneeded and RAS will work with Revenue in whatever way possible &#8211; for example\ngreater sharing of information &#8211; and play its role in trying to combat the\nproblem which is effecting livelihoods and local retail businesses across\ncountry. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reacting to\nthe publication of these figures, RAS spokesperson and retailer in Dublin Benny\nGilsenan said \u201cWe know that the availability of tobacco products on the black\nmarket is widespread and yet we now hear that seizures are down significantly.\nIt shows that criminal gangs are using whatever means necessary to evade detection\nand keep their illegal finances thriving. This needs to serve as a wake-up call\nfor everybody\u201d. &nbsp;&nbsp;\n\nHe added: \u201cThe incoming Government needs to take\na fresh look at what can be done to tackle this vital issue. Illegal smuggling\nis not only bankrolling criminal gangs and draining resources from the State,\nit is crippling legitimate local retailers trying to make a living\u201d. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) is calling on the next Government to consider further resources in the detection and prosecution of illegal smuggling of excisable goods. New figures published by Revenue indicate that a new approach must be explored if we are going to stem the tide of illegal smuggling and give local legitimate retailers any [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}