A Latvia-based smuggling gang is behind the approximately 1.4 million cigarettes seized at Dublin Airport since St. Patrick’s Day, says Irish Revenue’s Customs Service.

The cigarettes, seized from flights arriving from Rīga, have a value of EUR 483,000 and represent a potential loss in tax revenue of EUR 378,000, the government agency said in a March 21 press release.

Customs officers seized Marlboro, L & M, Chesterfields and other lesser-known brands of cigarettes, as well as two motor vehicles used in transporting the smuggled smokes. The cigarettes were headed for the black market, the agency said.

Since January, the agency added, about 7.5 million cigarettes valued at EUR 2.7 million have been seized at Dublin Airport.

A new honorary consul has been named in the Oulu region of northern Finland, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said March 21.

Timo Levo, managing director of the regional bank Oulun Osuuspankki, as honorary consul will focus on building Latvian and Finnish cooperation in culture, science and education, the ministry said in a press release.

Levo is Latvia’s fourth honorary consul in Finland. The others are Tapio Aho in Helsinki, Sture Carlson in Äland and Kai Holmberg in Kotka.

Latvia’s ambassador to Finland is Einars Semanis.

Why Latvian citizens are emigrating and how to encourage their return to Latvia will be the topic of a discussion scheduled April 4 by the Secretariat of the Special Assignments Minister for Social Integration in Rīga.

The meeting is part of the efforts of a work group studying the emigration issue. The work group, formed by the secretariat, is scheduled to report to the government by June 20 and to offer a specific plan for encouraging people to return to Latvia.

In recent years, some 40,000 to 50,000 Latvian residents have left Latvia in search of work, according to the Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia. Many have headed to Ireland.

The meeting is schedued at 16:00 hours in the secretariat, Elizabetes ielā 20, Rīga. Refreshments will be available after the discussion, when it will also be possible to meet with Minister Oskars Kastēns.

Persons interested in participating in the discussion are asked to e-mail the secretariat at pr@integracija.gov.lv.