Largest-ever fuel laundering plant found in Dundalk

Customs officers in the Republic have scored their biggest success against fuel laundering racketeers following the discovery of one of the most extensive oil laundering plants ever found in the south.

Up to 20 customs officers descended on the plant, which lies about two miles outside the border town of Dundalk, at 6am on Monday March 11. The swoop was made after weeks of surveillance, but there have not yet been any arrests.

The plant had the capacity to launder up to 400,000 litres of oil a week which could then be sold on for 50 pence a gallon in Northern Ireland. A spokesman for the Customs agency said: "It is one of the biggest, if not the biggest we have ever uncovered. The loss of revenue could, potentially, have run into millions of euros per annum."

The plants used by racketeers are sophisticated and can wash out the marking dye indicating that the oil can be sold at a discount for agricultural use. The marker dye is usually red or green but it can be removed from the diesel after acid treatments.

Officers also recovered three ground tanks and one larger underground tank. Four trucks loaded with over 100,000 litres of the illegal fuel were also seized.

One truck was a grain trailer with a large tank concealed under straw, one was a 12-metre container lorry with a tank concealed inside and the other two are boxed lorries containing hidden tanks.

Fuel laundering plants commonly have links with republican paramilitaries, but investigators would only say that there is a "strong international dimension" to the operation.

Investigations by the Irish authorities are said to be "continuing".

(GMcG)