Northern Ireland is "awash" with smuggled drink and cigarettes, a Belfast court was told.
Mr Bill Forsythe, of the Customs and Excise, told Belfast Crown Court that last year Customs seized 51 million smuggled cigarettes, which cost the authorities £6 million in lost duty and VAT.
The officer's comments came as two Belfast men and a Newtownabbey woman, who between them had admitted selling almost 500 litres of smuggled alcohol and half a million cigarettes, appeared before Judge Anthony Hart.
Adrian Malcolm Speers pleaded guilty to nine charges of knowingly being involved in the evasion of paying excise duty, while his co-accused, Ernest Dougan, and Dougan's partner, Janet Bingham, each pleaded guilty to one charge. They will be sentenced today.