Cross-border force urged to crack down on smugglers
A full-time combined force of police, revenue, customs and environmental agencies is needed to crack down on crime lords and dissident republicans who exploit the border regions, the report says.
Tougher laws must also be introduced to go after ‘phoenix’ companies linked to smuggling, which evade prosecution by transferring assets into other companies or changing their directors.
The Irish Examiner has obtained details of the inquiry carried out by a committee with the British-Irish parliamentary assembly. Its report on cross-border police co-operation and illicit trade will be launched today.
Law enforcement agencies including police chiefs, revenue, and ministers for justice from both jurisdictions were among those consulted about how to stop the smuggling by gangs exploiting the border regions.
Its inquiry examined how commodities that attract high taxes are the focus of smuggling gangs, particularly tobacco, alcohol, fuel, and stolen vehicles.
In the Republic of Ireland, taxes account for 78% of the price of a packet of cigarettes and over 50% of the price of a litre of diesel.
Gardaí, the PSNI, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and the North’s Justice Minister David Ford were among those who contributed to the inquiry.
It heard that dissidents comprise “a considerable proportion of criminals involved in fuel smuggling” and that fuel fraud in Ireland results in annual losses to the exchequer of €140m to €260m.
Local authority chief executives in the border regions told the authority that cleaning up toxic waste from fuel-laundering sites costs around €1,000 per cubic metre, with the problem worst in the Monaghan and South Armagh areas.
It also heard that, as fuel prices have fallen recently, petrol stretching and mixing has increased.
The inquiry notes the ease with which fuel fraud perpetrators can evade prosecution, by transferring operations from one legal entity to another upon detection. These so-called ‘phoenix company’ operations mean gangs can continue their illicit trade without disruption. The loss in taxes due to tobacco smuggling in Ireland is estimated to be up to €575m, the committee heard.
The committee concluded that an all-island approach is necessary to tackle illicit trade and that a full-time force with officers seconded from all law enforcement agencies be set up. This would include officers from environment agencies and the Garda Criminal Assets Bureau.
On-the-spot fines are also recommended for consumers who knowingly buy illicit goods.
More lengthy jail sentences are recommended for offenders so that the island of Ireland is viewed as a difficult place for gangs to operate in.
The loophole whereby gangs evade prosecution through phoenix companies must also be addressed, it says, and laws should be passed both in Dublin and Belfast. Filling stations that are prosecuted for selling illegal laundered fuel should also not be allowed to simply open up shop again, the committee has suggested.
The inquiry by the committee, chaired by Fine Gael senator Paul Coghlan, was set up in March 2014 and involved assembly parliamentarians from Ireland and Britain speaking to a range of officials involved in fighting smuggling.
