Jail for aspiring dried fruit wholesaler caught with over 100,000 untaxed cigarettes

By Eimear Dodd

An aspiring dried fruit wholesaler who was found with over 100,000 untaxed cigarettes has been jailed for 18 months.

Nicolae Dulea (36), of Cruise Park Drive, Tyrellstown, Dublin 15, pleaded guilty to one count of non-payment of duty on 40,000 cigarettes on November 12, 2021 at Weatherwell Business Park, Clondalkin.

Dulea also entered a plea on behalf of Prunesso Europe Ltd in his capacity as director.

Prunesso Europe Ltd pleaded guilty to one count of keeping tobacco products – 60,600 cigarettes and 4.5kg of fine cut tobacco – without the appropriate tax stamp affixed on the same date, at Rosemount Business Park, Dublin 11.

A Revenue officer told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today that a detection dog gave an indication in relation to one pallet, which was identified during a search by Revenue officials on November 11, 2021.

The pallet was listed as containing children’s playthings and when examined, it contained two boxes with 40,000 of untaxed cigarettes, with a total loss to the State of €24,580 including excise duty and VAT.

A surveillance operation was set up and the pallet was collected the next day, November 12, and loaded onto a white van.

It was later transferred to another vehicle, in which Dulea was the passenger.

No charges were brought against the driver of this vehicle.

Dulea told Revenue officials that the boxes belonged to a friend who asked him to collect it.

He said he had collected another box a few weeks early.

A search was carried out under warrant of a storage container rented to Prunesso Europe at the Rosemount Business Park, Dublin 11 on the same day.

A total of 60,600 cigarettes and 4.5kg of fine cut tobacco were found in this container with a combined loss of VAT and excise duty of €38,198.75.

Dulea’s address, which is also the registered address of the company, was also searched but nothing was found.

The total loss to the State for both incidents was €61,788.

Dulea has two previous similar convictions, the most recent dating back to 2013 at the District Court.

The Revenue official agreed with Colm Hennessy BL, defending, that his client was co-operative and answered questions under caution at the scene.

She agreed that Dulea said he was a wholesaler of dried fruits and was collecting the boxes for a friend.

It was further accepted that Dulea told the officials he would receive €100 for diesel.

The witness also agreed that items relating to Dulea’s legitimate wholesale business were also found in the container and he has not come to any attention since this incident.

Mr Hennessy said his client set up the company in 2020 with the intention of importing dried fruits from his family farm and selling them to Polish shops in Dublin.

However, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic meant that the business never got off the ground and was a loss-making enterprise.

Mr Hennessy said his client did not seek State supports during this period.

His client moved to Ireland from Romania in 2011 and is married with two young children.

Dulea’s wife was in court to support him.

Defence counsel said Dulea has a good work history, but has been unable to work recently due to the stress of the legal process.

Mr Hennessy submitted to the court that while his client was stopped and caught “red-handed”, he was co-operative with Revenue officials.

Mr Hennessy also asked the court to take into account Dulea’s early guilty plea, and the long gap between Dulea’s previous convictions and these incidents.

A reference was also handed to court, which outlined that Dulea volunteers in his local community and is helping Ukrainian refugees.

Imposing sentence, Judge Elva Duffy said Dulea’s previous relevant convictions are an aggravating feature of the case as they involved “identical offending behaviour”.

She said Dulea was someone with an awareness of the consequences of his actions.

She added that it “seems a lesson has not been learnt”.

The judge said she took into consideration the mitigation including Dulea’s early guilty plea, his co-operation and his family circumstances.

Judge Duffy imposed an 18 month prison sentence.