Police in the North have frozen property and assets worth £2 million belonging to the key figure behind an illegal dumping gang.
The order came as part of a major cross-Border policing operation, in which 28 sites in the Republic, Northern Ireland, Scotland and England were raided.
In the Republic gardaí, backed up by inspectors from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), led raids on 10 sites in Offaly, Wexford, Waterford and Dublin.
The premises raided included the offices and yards of a number of waste companies and warehouses from where illegal waste loads were being shipped to Northern Ireland.
The raids were described as an "evidence-gathering operation" to bring prosecutions in both jurisdictions against key gang members.
Financial and payment records were seized as part of the operation in the Republic, which resulted from the passing of information from the PSNI.
In Northern Ireland, police also seized a tractor and trailer, jet skis and a lorry-load of fireworks, cigarettes and alcohol, along with bundles of documentation from 16 sites. Officers from the organised crime unit of the PSNI have been targeting the gang for the last six months.
The PSNI also obtained three High Court restraint orders yesterday against the key figure, a businessman, to prevent him from disposing assets.
The orders are believed to relate to a series of front companies belonging to the businessman and his family.
The gang members are also believed to be behind the main stolen vehicle ring operating throughout Ireland, specialising in agricultural and industrial machinery.
Last month officers discovered three stolen tractors during a raid at a site belonging to another member of the gang. Gardaí also seized a stolen dumper truck in Rosslare on a truck belonging to the businessman.
Supt Andy Sproule, PSNI Organised Crime Squad, said the gang was a significant target. "This would be one of our major crime gangs. They are career criminals. Where there's money to be made they will be operating at high profit, low risk."
Mr Dara Lynott, director of the EPA's Office of Environmental Enforcement, said the use of various agencies, including the Garda, PSNI and the EPA, was essential to tackling the illegal waste problem.