The Real IRA has strongly denied involvement in the largest ever haul of smuggled cigarettes captured in the Republic.

A spokesman for the organisation insisted it had “no connection” with the cargo of 120 million cigarettes uncovered in Greenore Port in Co Louth following a massive surveillance operation.

“It has absolutely nothing to do with us,” the spokesman told the Sunday Tribune. Independent republican sources in South Armagh said individual “big-time smugglers”, most of whom had no paramilitary connections, had pooled resources to collaborate in the huge smuggling operation.

The sources said that while some of the smugglers had worked for the Provisional IRA in the past, they were “freelancing entirely for themselves” on this occasion. They claimed the smuggling ring involved individuals on both sides of the Border with a key figure based in Crossmaglen.

Nine men arrested in connection with the seizure have been freed. A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions on the seven Irishmen, aged between 19 and mid-40s, a Lithuanian in his 50s and a Ukrainian in his 40s.

Republican paramilitaries, including Real IRA and Provisional IRA members, have been heavily involved in cigarette smuggling in the past.

Around 1,500 one-tonne bags of cigarettes were found last week among a consignment of animal feed on board the MV Anne Scan. The 80-metres long German-owned ship, registered in Antigua and Barbuda, was chartered from the Philippines.

It is understood that five different brands of cigarettes have been identified amongst the haul – ‘Palace’, ‘Chelsea’, ‘Superking’, ‘L&B’ and ‘Regal’. The cargo was valued at €50m and would have represented a €40m loss to the state. The ship was kept under surveillance from when it left the Philippines on 15 September until it docked in Greenore.

The operation, code-named ‘Samhna’, involved the Revenue Customs Service, the Naval Service, Air Corps, Garda, PSNI, Criminal Assets Bureau and British customs officials. South Armagh sources said the seizure represented a “major blow” to smugglers along the border.