Bootleg booze seized at Dublin port

By Ed Carty, Press Association

Hundreds of litres of suspected bootleg booze has been seized by authorities.

Revenue said the first lot was stopped in Dublin Port and found hidden inside a consignment of soft drinks and snacks from Portugal.

More than 530 litres of smuggled drink worth about 6,800 euro on shop shelves was discovered during routine profiling by customs officials.

The consignment included bottled and canned beers, wine and sangria.

The discovery followed a separate intelligence-led operation on Monday in a town in north Cork when 18 litres of suspected counterfeit vodka and clothing was seized.

Revenue said it would like to remind anyone tempted to buy cheap alcohol, tobacco or consumer goods from an irregular source that there is a high possibility that they are buying counterfeit goods.

"Publicans and consumers should only purchase alcohol from reputable sources of supply," a spokeswoman said.

Revenue also said vodka is the most commonly counterfeited alcohol and it often contains high quantities of methanol, a poisonous chemical that can cause breathing difficulties, liver damage or blindness and isopropyl alcohol, a chemical solvent commonly found in nail varnish remover.