Fuel laundering prosecutions surge

A CRACKDOWN on filling stations and distributors selling laundered diesel has led to a dramatic increase in the numbers being caught and prosecuted.

In the first six months of this year, 16 garage owners across the country were caught selling laundered diesel, much of it smuggled in from over the Border.

This compares with 14 during the whole of 2004 and reflects a zero tolerance approach to the sale of laundered fuel, according to one senior customs investigator.

There has also been a large increase in the number of hauliers caught transporting the fuel, with 41 discovered in the first six months, the same number as the whole of last year.

The majority of the hauliers, 24, were from the North. Five tankers and 236,000 litres of laundered product were seized, while on-the-spot fines of over €67,000 were issued to the drivers from the North. Hopes of them turning up in court are slim.

Laundries, where the dye from the marked gas oil is removed, have relocated North of the Border after 17 were closed down here following raids in 2002 and 2003.