Police in Northern Ireland have seized vehicles worth more than €200,000 and suspected to have been stolen as part of a crackdown on the operations of a gang believed to be behind the bulk of cross-Border illegal dumping. Liam Reid reports.
Three tractors were discovered after staff from Northern Ireland's Environment and Heritage Service, backed up by detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's organised crime unit, raided a site near Derrylinn, Co Fermanagh.
The tractors were found in two 40-ft containers by the investigators, who were searching for illegal waste during an operation on Monday evening.
The operation was part of a major crackdown on a gang of illegal waste smugglers, headed by a Northern Ireland businessman. He is believed to be behind the bulk of illegal dumping of waste from the Republic in Northern Ireland.
The businessman has previously served 18 months in jail in England and Northern Ireland after being convicted in 1997 for stealing vehicles.
He is also a suspect in an investigation into a stolen truck parts scam in the Republic.
Yesterday a spokesman for the PSNI said that officers believed they had intercepted a major stolen vehicles racket during Monday's raid.
One of the tractors, a brand new John Deere, was identified as having been stolen in Perthshire, Scotland. The spokesman said it was believed that the other two New Holland tractors were also stolen.
They were all in the manufacturers' plastic wrapping and had a combined value of over €200,000.
"It looks as if they were there for future transport to anywhere on these islands," said a PSNI spokesman.
The tractors were taken to Derry where officers are attempting to identify their origin.
The investigation is being headed by officers from the PSNI's organised crime unit, who have been investigating the activities of the Northern Ireland businessman since earlier this year.
The businessman is also the main focus of a cross-Border illegal dumping taskforce, set up recently to clamp down on illegal dumping.
The taskforce, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Garda, local authorities, the Environment and Heritage Service and the PSNI, were recently involved in a joint operation which saw two lorry-loads of waste from the Republic intercepted in Northern Ireland on its way to an illegal dump.
The EPA has also asked local authorities to carry out a trawl of their records in an attempt to clamp down on the operations of the businessman.
It has asked them to identify any companies or individuals linked to the businessman who may have waste-collection permits which they use to facilitate waste smuggling.
The EPA wants these permits to be revoked.
The businessman and his associates are using a number of companies and have obtained waste permits for different regions of the Republic.