Gardaí and waste enforcement officials are investigating links between an armed hijacking of a lorry in Dublin last month and illegal cross-Border waste movements.
In what waste enforcement officials described as a worrying development, a lorry cab that had been confiscated on suspicion of illegal dumping was taken from a yard in Dublin at gun-point by masked men.
It followed the first successful cross-Border surveillance operation into illegal waste movements involving waste enforcement officials, gardaí and the PSNI.
Dublin's newly-established waste-enforcement team covertly tracked a number of trucks to the Border last month where the surveillance was then taken up by the PSNI. Two were caught by PSNI officers in the process of dumping loads at an illegal site near the Border and were confiscated.
Seven of the trucks were found to have had correct documentation, and the waste was being legitimately exported for recycling at a facility in Belfast. However, enforcement officials in the Republic are not satisfied that the waste is being properly recycled.
The Northern Ireland Heritage Service arranged for the trucks and their contents to be returned. The two trucks were met by waste officials and gardaí where they were to be escorted back down to the south-east. After developing engine problems near Dublin, the cab of one of the lorries was brought to a compound near the M50.
That night an armed gang broke into the compound and held the security guard at gun-point and retrieved the lorry.
Its loss is not expected to have any impact on the ability of the Garda and the waste enforcement authorities to take prosecutions in both cases. However, it has worried waste enforcement officials because it is the first time an armed gang has been linked with illegal waste.
It is understood that waste enforcement officials now suspect that both lorries were being followed in a counter-surveillance operation on their return to the Republic.
In a similar incident during the summer, two vehicles that were confiscated at an illegal dump near Cootehill, Co Cavan, were also stolen from a compound where they were parked.