A day in the life of Ireland"s customs officers

Customs is a new six-part character driven series following the working lives of Irelands" customs officers. With unprecedented access to the daily operations of Ireland"s customs officers, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see up close how the country is dealing with the increasing level of importation of illegal materials and substances. 24-hours-a-day the ten men and women featured in this series work to protect the nation"s borders. Theirs is an extraordinary job. The hours are extreme and no day is like another. In a game of cat and mouse they try to out-think the criminals, and sometimes they are successful. They find shipments of drugs in the strangest places: a doll"s house; picture frames; the bottom of a massive cargo ship. Large quantities of money, cigarettes and cars are regularly seized, as well as a myriad of other illegal goods and substances. And then there are the more bizarre finds like a Colombian snake. The officers work like a police force, conducting dawn raids, getting involved in car chases, doing stake outs and investigating leads. And as the battle intensifies their equipment is upgraded now including high powered boats to patrol the coast, mobile x-ray trucks and highly sensitive scanners for use in the ports and airports. These officers witness a fascinating side of Irish life that has remained mostly hidden from the public. They have never been filmed in action before. Until now. In programme one, a suspicious passenger makes a bolt for the exit, a live snake is discovered in luggage at Dublin Port, an undercover operation halts a cigarette smuggling scam at Dublin Airport and in Cork the customs anti-evasion unit chase down UK registered cars. In Dublin Airport, undercover officers track two people who they suspect to be running a cigarette smuggling operation via the skies of Europe to supply the Irish black market. Veteran Officer Declan Smyth leads the covert customs team who follow the suspicious pair to the airport car park where they find some surprising contents in their luggage. Over at Dublin Port, Officer Martin Rogers meets an unusual passenger. It"s his first encounter with a Colombian Rainbow Boa - and he"s not too impressed. Customs is on RTÉ One on Sunday at 7.30pm.