Stephen Watters remanded on bail over cigarette smuggling

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Stephen Watters was remanded on continuing bail by the High Court on 18 June 2018 over alleged cigarette and tobacco smuggling offences. His extradition proceedings were at an early stage.

Watters, from Dundalk, was wanted in the UK over alleged conspiracy to fraudulently evade excise duty and an alleged arrangement involving criminal property. His lawyers sought more time to file objections to his proposed surrender and indicated that his case would raise a Brexit-related legal point. The court continued his bail until 8 October, with liberty to apply if the issue was resolved sooner. The allegations relate to an alleged organised crime gang operating in England and Ireland; the warrant said more than 17 million cigarettes and 1.5 tonnes of rolling tobacco were linked to the group.