Published Wednesday, 08 July 2009
Officers from the UK Border Agency found the Regal King Size cigarettes hidden behind boxes in a cargo at Belfast docks on Wednesday.
HM Revenue & Customs said one man from Co Tyrone was arrested but has been released without charge.
The cigarettes were smuggled from China and were concealed behind boxes lined with carbon paper in an attempt to evade detection by x-ray scanning equipment.
Officials said the smuggling operation would have cost an estimated duty evasion of £1.91m.
HMRC Assistant Director Criminal Investigation, John Whiting, said: "Tobacco smuggling is not a victimless crime.
"The huge profits reaped from the sales of illegal cigarettes are ploughed straight back into the criminal underworld, feeding activities like drug dealing and fraud.
"Purchasing cheap cigarettes without the duty paid on them, means trading with criminals, and undermining honest businesses."
Largest scam
The announcement comes after the authorities intercepted one of the largest ever international tobacco smuggling scams on Tuesday.
Two men from Londonderry who were arrested in connection with the smuggling operations have been released on bail.
A third man from England remains in police custody.
The scam allegedly involved the manufacture and smuggling of hundreds of millions of cigarettes from the Far East into the UK and the Republic.
The raids were carried out as part of an 18-month probe into suspected tax evasion and laundering the proceeds of crime.
The arrests were made following the search of private and business premises by Revenue and Customs officers in Co Londonderry, and by the Criminal Assets Bureau in Co Cork, Meath and Louth in the Republic.
Premises in Cambridgeshire in England were also searched during the operation.