An illicit haul of wine, estimated to be worth approximately €60,000, has been confiscated at Rosslare Europort in County Wexford, Ireland.
The intervention at this contemporary maritime port in Ireland was initiated after Irish Tax and Customs officials, following risk profiling, impounded around 4,860 litres of wine, valued at nearly €59,200.
The illegal consignment of red wine, labelled ‘Doppio Passo Primitivo Rosso 2022’, was found within an accompanied trailer that had arrived on a ferry from Cherbourg, France. This seizure represents a potential loss of over €31,700 to the Exchequer.
The individual responsible for transporting the wine is currently under questioning, according to Irish Tax and Customs.
Counterfeit Merchandise This incident is part of a series of counterfeit product seizures in recent years.
In 2021, a staggering 1.7 million litres of fake alcoholic drinks, including wine, beer, vodka, and other spirits, were confiscated by authorities as part of a European-wide clampdown on food and drink fraud.
Europol reports that in the span from December 2020 to June 2021, approximately 1.7 million litres of alcohol were seized by officials, with wine and vodka being the most frequently seized items.
That year, Irish customs officials also intercepted 24,750 litres of fake wine, valued at almost €302,000, at Cork port.
Beer In a more recent development, police at a Scottish port have seized over 75,000 litres of illegal beer.
The operation led to the recovery of the equivalent of 132,000 pints of illicit lager at the P&O ferry terminal, which provides connections to Larne in Northern Ireland.
The unauthorized beer was retrieved by the police during a week-long surveillance operation at the port, conducted in collaboration with HMRC and part of the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, aimed at intercepting the beer suspected to have been transported from the Republic of Ireland, through Northern Ireland, and into Scotland via HGV transporters.