Customs finds 30,000 litres of diesel in illegal laundering plant

A Scania lorry and a Citroen van were seized by customs and excise officers who raided a diesel laundering plant near Clontibret…

A Scania lorry and a Citroen van were seized by customs and excise officers who raided a diesel laundering plant near Clontibret in County Monaghan. Elaine Keogh reports.

Twenty customs officers from Clones and Dundalk, backed up by members of the Dublin-based Special Investigations Unit, were involved in the raid late on Monday night which followed a two-month surveillance operation.

A local man in his 20s was on the premises. A Customs spokesman said a file will be prepared for the DPP.

Diesel laundering involves acids and other chemicals being used to remove a coloured dye from agricultural diesel oil. It is significantly cheaper to buy than "white" or auto diesel because it incurs lower excise duties. But it can only be legally used in off-road vehicles. Three underground tanks containing 30,000 litres of diesel were discovered in the raid.

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A Customs spokesman said the diesel would have been transported in a concealed tanker and distributed for sale on the open market at normal auto diesel prices, thereby netting a huge profit for the people behind the illegal activity.

The loss to the exchequer in unpaid taxes and duties of a plant like this turning over 30,000 litres a week would come to over €750,000 a year, he added.

The diesel recovered at the plant at Bryanlittle, Clontibret was red, indicating it had been purchased in Northern Ireland then smuggled across the Border to the laundering plant.

Diesel laundering plants have sprung up in the Border region in recent years, due in part to the ease with which laundered diesel can be moved from one jurisdiction to another.

The criminals also exploit the exchange rate and the high price of diesel, particularly in Northern Ireland. They can colour the diesel wherever it is cheapest and sell the washed product wherever it is most expensive.