{"id":297953,"date":"2026-02-14T15:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T15:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/297953\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T15:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T15:35:08","slug":"customs-officials-in-france-make-surprising-discovery-among-potatoes-destined-for-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/297953\/","title":{"rendered":"Customs officials in France make surprising discovery among potatoes destined for Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lorry carrying the cigarettes was inspected at Cherbourg Ferry Port as it prepared to embark on a ferry to Ireland\"French<\/p>\n

French Customs officials with the lorry carrying the illegal cigarettes that were destined for Ireland. (Image: Douane Fran\u00e7aise\/French Customs)<\/p>\n

Customs officials in France have seized more than eight tonnes of illegal cigarettes being smuggled to Ireland \u2013 hidden inside a delivery of potatoes.<\/p>\n

French authorities said the \u20ac5.46 million worth of Richmond brand cigarettes were seized at Cherbourg Ferry Port last week \u2013 and the driver has now been fined \u20ac50,000 and hit with a one year suspended sentence.<\/p>\n

He has already been given his lorry and load of potatoes back \u2013 but has been told to stay out of France for five years.<\/p>\n

Officials said the find was made by customs officials during a routine inspection of a heavy goods vehicle at the Port on Wednesday of last week.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

Some of the cigarettes seized in France before they could reach the streets of Ireland.(Image: Douane Fran\u00e7aise\/French Customs)<\/p>\n

They said the lorry had travelled from The Netherlands and was heading for a ferry to Ireland when the find was made.<\/p>\n

French Customs announced the seizure in a statement on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

It said: \u201cOn February 4, during an inspection at the Cherbourg port terminal, customs officers discovered 8.4 tons of contraband tobacco hidden in a truckload of potatoes bound for Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis merchandise has a street value of \u20ac5.46 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cigarettes were hidden behind sacks of potatoes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

French Customs officials inspecting the lorry.(Image: Douane Fran\u00e7aise\/French Customs)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe merchandise, intended for illegal distribution networks, will be destroyed by customs officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe driver appeared in court for a plea bargain hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was fined \u20ac50,000 by customs, given a one-year suspended prison sentence, and banned from French territory for five years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shipment of potatoes and the truck were returned to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

French customs also said the seizure was part of a wider campaign to combat tobacco smuggling \u2013 which they claim is a major cash cow for organised crime gangs.<\/p>\n

They also revealed that officers seized seven tonnes of tobacco at the same port in October 2025 in a truck traveling the same route from the Netherlands to Ireland.<\/p>\n

That haul was worth around \u20ac4.55 million.<\/p>\n

Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lorry carrying the cigarettes was inspected at Cherbourg Ferry Port as it prepared to embark on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,15229,112],"class_list":["post-297953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-revenue","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}