Customs officers have seized cigarettes worth €10,000 in a planned operation in Limerick.

Officers discovered two steel containers - each containing 11,000 Septwolf cigarettes when they stopped and searched a vehicle on the Cork/Limerick border.

The car was seized and two Chinese nationals were questioned.

In follow-up searches, a number of other Chinese nationals were questioned at a house in Limerick City - with a number of items including phones, documents and a tablet PC all seized.

The 22,000 cigarettes represented a potential loss to the Exchequer of €8,100.

The investigation is on-going.

Revenue reminds business people, and members of the public, that if have any information regarding the smuggling or sale of illegal cigarettes, they can contact Revenue in confidence on free phone number 1800 295 295.

The Revenue Service has released the pictures below showing the operation to crack open the steel containers.