{"id":531,"date":"2025-03-07T12:27:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T12:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/?p=531"},"modified":"2025-10-16T10:50:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T10:50:17","slug":"ras-factory-discovery-highlights-out-of-control-illegal-tobacco-trade-checkout-ie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/2025\/03\/07\/ras-factory-discovery-highlights-out-of-control-illegal-tobacco-trade-checkout-ie\/","title":{"rendered":"RAS: Factory Discovery Highlights \u2018Out Of Control\u2019 Illegal Tobacco Trade – Checkout.ie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

06 March 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A spokesman for Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS)<\/a> has highlighted the \u201cout of control\u201d illicit tobacco<\/a> trade in Ireland, following the discovery of an illegal cigarette<\/a> factory in Co. Louth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RAS congratulated the Revenue Commissioners<\/a> and An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na<\/a> for their success in discovering and shutting down the highly sophisticated factory, where almost \u20ac600,000 worth of cigarettes were seized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spokesman for the retail group has warned that this seizure is the \u201ctip of the iceberg\u201d, and that tobacco smuggling is \u201cout of control\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headline figures recently released by the Revenue Commissioners show that Irish authorities seized \u20ac128 million worth of illegal tobacco in 2024, compared to \u20ac63 million in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In total, 112 million cigarettes were seized by Irish authorities in 2024, with the amount nearly doubling in one year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, the Revenue Commissioners published a survey that showed that 34% of cigarettes in circulation in Ireland were non-duty paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RAS national spokesman Benny Gilsenan<\/a> \u2013 who is also a retailer in North Dublin \u2013 said, \u201cThis factory closure and the massive scale of seizures last year represent only the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTobacco-smuggling is out of control in Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe new government must massively increase their efforts to tackle tobacco-smuggling, starting with increased scanning and detection at our ports, and adopting a zero-tolerance approach to illegal cigarettes being sold in our communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTobacco-smuggling is costing millions in lost revenue to both legitimate retailers and the Irish Exchequer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This factory closure is welcome, but more is needed to get on top of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

06 March 2025 A spokesman for Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) has highlighted the \u201cout of control\u201d illicit tobacco trade in Ireland, following the discovery of an illegal cigarette factory in Co. Louth. RAS congratulated the Revenue Commissioners and An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na for their success in discovering and shutting down the highly sophisticated factory, where almost \u20ac600,000 worth of cigarettes were seized. The spokesman for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cigarette-smuggling","category-illicit-cigarettes"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531","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=531"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":658,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531\/revisions\/658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.retailersagainstsmuggling.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}