Armed Gardaí seized €460,000 worth of alcohol in a joint operation with Revenue on Wednesday evening.
According to Revnue, the team seized “586 litres of finished ‘vodka’ type product,” as well as “4,000 litres of the raw alcohol product” which would have been used to produce as much as 12,000 litres of vodka.
Among the seized items were “a forklift truck, and cash amounts of 5,000 EUR and 1,000 GBP were also seized.” The total value to the Exhequer of the counterfeit alcohol is estimated at €300,000.
The report referred to the alcohol as “denatured,” which is described by revenue as “alcohol to which a substance has been added that makes the mixture unfit for human consumption.”
It seems as though the operation was planning to sell the illicitly produced alcohol as though it were the real deal. It was reported that Gardaí also seized “containers, along with packaging, bottle caps and labels which were all counterfeit.”
The report also confirmed that “a man was interviewed and investigations are ongoing with a view to prosecution.”
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