Displaying items by tag: contraband

22nd January 2015

Dog Sniffs Out Millions Of Contraband Cigarettes At Dublin Port

#DublinPort - Casey the sniffer dog has sniffed out a haul of over seven-and-a-half million contraband cigarettes at Dublin Port, as BreakingNews.ie reports.

The Revenue pooch detected the 'Manchester' brand cigarettes – worth some €3.5 million – in a shipping container that arrived from Belgium hidden under plastic and listed in the manifest as breakfast cereal.

Published in Dublin Port

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New series of 'Customs' on RTÉ One

The second series of 'Customs' returns to television screens next Wednesday (17 November) on RTÉ One at 8.30pm. The Revenue Commissioners customs cutter, RCC Faire, which officially entered service in October of last year, will feature in the new series.

RCC_Faire

RCC Faire at Howth Harbour on the day of her naming ceremony on 16 October 2009. Photo: Jehan Ashmore / ShipSNAPS

To be broadcast in six-parts, the series will provide unprecedented access into the daily operations of the custom officers.'Customs' examines how the country is dealing with increasing levels of illegally imported materials and substances.

Custom officers found shipments of drugs in the strangest places: a doll's house, picture frames, the bottom of a massive cargo ship. In addition the seizure of contraband cigarettes, vehicles, large
quantities of money and the more bizarre discovery of a Colombian snake.

Published in Maritime TV

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About Conor O'Brien, Irish Circumnavigator

In 1923-25, Conor O'Brien became the first amateur skipper to circle the world south of the Great Capes. O'Brien's boat Saoirse was reputedly the first small boat (42-foot, 13 metres long) to sail around the world since Joshua Slocum completed his voyage in the 'Spray' during 1895 to 1898. It is a journey that O' Brien documented in his book Across Three Oceans. O'Brien's voyage began and ended at the Port of Foynes, County Limerick, Ireland, where he lived.

Saoirse, under O'Brien's command and with three crew, was the first yacht to circumnavigate the world by way of the three great capes: Cape Horn, Cape of Good Hope and Cape Leeuwin; and was the first boat flying the Irish tri-colour to enter many of the world's ports and harbours. He ran down his easting in the Roaring Forties and Furious Fifties between the years 1923 to 1925.

Up until O'Brien's circumnavigation, this route was the preserve of square-rigged grain ships taking part in the grain race from Australia to England via Cape Horn (also known as the clipper route).

At a Glance - Conor O'Brien's Circumnavigation

In June 1923, Limerick man Conor O’Brien set off on his yacht, the Saoirse — named after the then newly created Irish Free State — on the two-year voyage from Dun Laoghaire Harbour that was to make him the first Irish amateur to sail around the world.

June 1923 - Saoirse’s arrival in Madeira after her maiden passage out from Dublin Bay

2nd December 1924 - Saoirse crossed the longitude of Cape Horn

June 20th 1925 - O’Brien’s return to Dun Laoghaire Harbour