Cork man fined after bringing 20,000 cigarettes on flight from Tenerife
Importing Duty File Guilty The And Of Payment To Fined €2,500 Without Picture: Cigarettes Istock Was Accused Pleaded
Twenty thousand cigarettes carried by an air passenger from Tenerife to Cork had no stamps to indicate the required payment of €13,000 in excise duties and now the cigarettes have been destroyed and the young man who carried them in his luggage has been convicted and fined.
Shane Holland, of Willow Bank, Nash’s Boreen, Fairhill, Cork, pleaded guilty to importing cigarettes without the payment of duty.
The cigarettes carried a duty of €10,000 together with €3,000 tax and none of the €13,000 was paid in respect of the seized cigarettes.
The cigarettes were discovered as passengers arrived in Cork Airport from Tenerife shortly before 1am on May 15.
22-year-old Shane Holland went through the green channel with two bags containing the large quantity of cigarettes.
Ultimately, the young man took responsibility for all of the cigarettes.
State solicitor Frank Nyhan said of the seized cigarettes: “They were destroyed.”
Eddie Burke, defence solicitor, described the defendant as a naive young man who admitted bringing in these cigarettes without paying the duty and tax. He has been unemployed since last year due to health difficulties. “He is sorry,” Mr Burke said.
Mr Nyhan said the offence carried a maximum fine of €5,000 that can be mitigated to no less than half.
Judge Joanne Carroll clarified that with such an offence it was not legally permitted to give someone the benefit of a dismissal under the Probation of Offenders Act, particularly where they had no previous convictions, as was the case with Mr Holland.
The judge said: “He cooperated and learned a lesson. Unfortunately, I am told I have to impose a €2,500 fine. I will give him 18 months to pay.”
Turning directly to the young man, she said: “It was a big mistake, Mr Holland, but you will have to put it behind you.”