Fuel scam earned gang €750,000 a month

A CRIMINAL gang was earning up to €750,000 a month from a massive fuel laundering operation that was smashed in a cross-border operation yesterday.

The investigation, resulting in the arrest of four people, involved the Garda Síochána, customs and the Criminal Assets Bureau in the south and the PSNI and HM Customs in the North.

In an operation spanning six counties in the south, gardaí and customs seized 143,000 litres of laundered fuel, including 95,000 litres at a plant in Co Monaghan.

This plant, at Corrygarry, Castleblaney, had the capacity to launder 18 million litres of fuel a year, with a potential loss to the state of €9 million.

Criminal gangs launder cheaper agricultural fuel by removing chemical markers and dyes and selling it on as regular fuel.

Garda and customs sources estimate that gangs buy agricultural diesel for around 90 cent a litre and, after “washing” it, sell it to garages and businesses for around €1.40 a litre.

At 50c profit per litre and a capacity to launder 18 million litres a year, the Monaghan plant provided operators with a yearly profit of up to €9m, or €750,000 a month.

The plant was operational at the time it was raided. The Garda team involved members from the Organised Crime Unit, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the elite Emergency Response Unit.

A man in his 30s from the North was arrested at the scene. A man in his 20s was also arrested.

Three tankers containing the fuel were seized, as well as two transit vans, a box lorry, a 40-foot tanker and an articulated lorry, with a combined value of €55,000.

In a simultaneous operation, customs, gardaí and CAB officers carried out searches at five filling stations in counties Roscommon, Galway, Offaly, Westmeath and Dublin.

A total of 48,350 litres of laundered fuel was seized: 4,700 litres in Roscommon; 6,150 litres in Loughrea, Co Galway; 17,000 litres in Birr, Co Offaly; 11,500 litres in Athlone; and 9,000 litres in Rathfarnham, Dublin.

Two men in their 40s were arrested and detained at Tullamore and Roscommon garda stations.

In counties Armagh and Tyrone, revenue and customs officers, supported by the PSNI, executed search warrants at four addresses.

The operation brings the amount of laundered fuel seized so far this year to over 320,000 litres, twice the amount seized in 2010. Four of the seven laundering plants hit this year were in Monaghan. The seven plants had a combined capacity to launder 70 million litres of fuel a year.

Sean Kelleher, assistant principal officer in charge of customs enforcement along the border, said: “The operation is designed to not only cut off the supply of illegal diesel but is also targeted at filling stations where this product is sold.”