15. (1) A person who—

(a) fails without lawful and sufficient excuse to comply with any requirement imposed on him or her under any provision of Part 4,

(b) rescues, damages or destroys any thing liable to forfeiture or does anything calculated to prevent the procuring of evidence as to whether or not any thing is so liable to forfeiture,

(c) throws overboard, staves or destroys any goods in order to prevent or avoid the seizure of those goods,

(d) makes any signal or other communication with the intention to aid or assist the unlawful importation or unlawful exportation of goods,

(e) prevents the arrest of any person by an officer of customs or rescues any person so arrested,

(f) damages or otherwise interferes in any way with any equipment, vessel, aircraft, vehicle, communications system or other thing used, or intended for use, by an officer of customs,

(g) wounds, maims, abducts, kills or otherwise injures a customs dog without lawful authority or reasonable excuse,

(h) wilfully and prematurely removes or tampers with a seal, lock or mark that is used by an officer of customs to secure or identify any goods,

(i) owns or is in charge of any conveyance which is found within the State having been constructed, adapted, altered or fitted in any manner for the purpose of concealing goods in connection with their illegal importation or exportation,

(j) counterfeits or falsifies any seal, signature, initials or other mark of, or used by, an officer of customs for the verification of a document or for the security or identification of goods or for any other purpose in connection with any matter relating to customs, or

(k) attempts or endeavours to commit, or aids, abets or assists in the commission of, any of the offences mentioned in this section,

commits an offence.

(2) The person in charge of the goods mentioned in subsection (1)(j) is deemed to have committed the offence, and where a seal, lock or mark has been used by an officer of customs on board a vessel or aircraft, the master or pilot-in-command is deemed to be the person in charge of the goods.

(3) A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or both.