BRUSSELS - SINGAPORE authorities have seized nearly 40 million cigarettes believed bound for the black market in the European Union, the EU's anti-fraud office (OLAF) announced on Friday.

'The cigarettes ... would have resulted in losses of customs duties and taxes of almost 12 million euros (S$23.7 million) if they had been successfully smuggled into the EU,' a statement said.

OLAF said that the seizure took place at the end of September, and that the cigarettes were found in four containers fraudulently reported in shipping documents to contain furniture and decorative household items.

In April, Irish customs seized 30 million contraband cigarettes with a street value of 11 million euros (S$21.8 million) smuggled into the country from Singapore via France.

EU authorities seized some 4.8 billion black market cigarettes last year. -- AFP