A two month cross-Border security operation culminated yesterday morning with a series of raids by gardaí, the PSNI, British Army and revenue officers on premises both sides of the Louth/Armagh border.operation directed at diesel smuggler
They had been targeting an alleged diesel oil smuggler also suspected of being involved in money-laundering and racketeering.
The co-ordinated searches of houses, sheds, farmyards and business premises resulted in three people being arrested, 10 vehicles being seized and a substantial quantity of cash being confiscated.
"This was geared towards one man in his fifties who we suspect has been a significant player in cross-Border smuggling for several years," said one source.
Codenamed 'Operation Nursery', it was led by the Criminal Assets Bureau in the south and customs and excise officers in Northern Ireland.
Searches in Louth also involved the Garda Emergency Response Unit, gardaí and customs and excise officers from Dundalk, and officers from the Revenue Commissioners Special Investigations Unit.
Around 150 personnel were involved. Most took part in a search of a farm holding of 130 acres outside Dundalk, where they found a number of bags containing large sums of cash which, although not counted, appeared to run into tens of thousands.
An MG sports car and a Mercedes car, as well as three articulated trucks were taken from the farm for detailed examination.
Customs officers also searched premises in Castlebellingham and Dromad in Co Louth as part of the crackdown.
At Dromad it is believed that a number of trucks were examined for traces of laundered fuel.
Gardaí also searched the offices of a businessman in Dundalk town centre. As a result of the searches in Louth a man and a woman were arrested by members of CAB and taken to Kells garda station for questioning.
"Any associates of this man or people who had business transactions with him as well as any assets believed to have been derived from the proceeds of crime are being looked at," a garda spokesman said.
In the north, six business premises and homes in the Newry, Belleek, Camlough, Jonesboro and Warrenpoint areas were searched and one person arrested. Some 110,000 litres of fuel, seven vehicles, four fuel laundering plants and associated equipment were seized.
The diesel laundering plants were found off the Edenappa Road which links Dundalk to Jonesboro.