Garda raid automated oil laundering plant
The plant, deep in the countryside close to the border, was one of the largest ever discovered in the State, with a potential to wash 150,000 litres of oil every day.
Customs officers moved in on the plant at Kilcurry, near Dundalk, around 6am yesterday. They discovered five large over-ground tanks with a total capacity of hundreds of thousands of litres of oil.
Sean Brosnan, a customs enforcement officer who headed the operation, described the machinery as very sophisticated. "You did not need personnel. A system switch turned the filtering system on and it ran right through to the end product,” he revealed. Approximately 100,000 litres of oil were seized by officers.
No arrests were made but investigations are continuing and customs hope to gather evidence for files to be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
It's the fifth laundering plant to be raided in the Dundalk area this year, including one in March close to where yesterday's operation was carried out.
Cheaper home heating and agricultural oil is bought by the operators, cleaned to get rid of the markings - red in the North, green in the south - and then sold on. It is sourced in both jurisdictions, according to Mr Brosnan.
The senior customs officer said numerous groups were involved in the oil laundering business. But investigators believe the plant raided yesterday may have been set up by a gang whose previous operation was closed down.
The Northern Ireland Audit Office estimated earlier this year that around half of all filling stations in the six counties were selling laundered oil.
Potential profits for the launderers are huge. Buying the cheaper oil for no more than 1.50 a gallon, they can sell it on for 3 in the south and more than 4 in the north.
A highly sophisticated plant such as that raided yesterday has the capacity to launder 150,000 litres a day.
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