Half a million cigarettes and tens of thousands of euros seized in Co Donegal

More than half a million cigarettes and cash, together worth an estimated 910,000 euro, have been seized in Co Donegal.

On Wednesday, Revenue searched a residential premises and adjacent yards in Burnfoot under a warrant.

Around 338,000 cigarettes, 12.4kg of rolling tobacco and approximately 415,000 euro worth of cash were seized.

The cash was in both euro and sterling currencies.

Two vehicles, a cash-counting machine, financial documentation and mobile phones were also seized.

During follow-up searches on Thursday, a further 200,000 cigarettes were found.

The cigarettes are of various brands and the tobacco is branded “Flandria Virginia”.

They have an estimated retail value of more than 496,000 euro, Revenue said, representing a potential loss to the Exchequer of approximately 392,000 euro.

Revenue said a judge at Buncrana District Court granted a three-month cash detention order in respect of the money seized.

“It is suspected that the cash is the proceeds of, or intended for use in, criminal activity and is detained by Revenue in accordance with proceeds of crime legislation,” it said.

Gardai said that no arrests have been made and investigations are continuing.