‘Guy who took tanker would be shot if he didn’t’
“The guy who took it was probably faced with being shot if he didn’t get it,” said one source.
The driver also faced the prospect of meeting one of the armed patrols which take place inside the barracks every night without advance warning.
However, the theft is also being seen as a sign the continuing campaign targeting diesel laundering and the criminal gangs involved in it, “is hitting them where it hurts”.
“This is dangerous work and that is why the customs operations always involved support from armed gardaí who have a very visible presence throughout the raids.”
Another source, experienced in the ways of the border, said: “This was not just brazen; it was a sign that whoever took it or ordered it be taken, needed the money that it was worth and that the pressure is starting to hit home.”
In the last two-and-a-half years, the clampdown by Revenue and Customs on oil laundering in its heartland of Louth, Monaghan and South Armagh has increased.
Since 2011, 24 separate oil laundries have been dismantled, representing 206m litres of laundered diesel not being sold, at considerable profit, by the gangsters involved.
Revenue has also increased the number of prosecution files being sent to the DPP.
The heat was turned up significantly last October when Revenue required everyone selling green diesel to have a licence.
They must also submit online returns every month detailing the diesel in stock at the start and end of the month as well as who they sold it to and the Vat number of the customer.
“The supply of green diesel has begun to dry up. This tanker was taken for the diesel it had and for no other reason,” said the source.
This was probably why, earlier this year for the first time in recent years, a laundry was found south of the border where red diesel — which originated in the North — was being ‘washed’.
The head of customs enforcement along the border is Sean Kelleher, who said the theft “really shows me that we are dealing with dangerous people who are prepared to take a vehicle out of an armed barracks. If they are prepared to do that, it gives you an idea of the type of person we have to deal with.”
Customs sources say a particular problem is the intimidation of anyone considering talking to the authorities as well as the support in the community for the illegal activity.
“They probably think, ‘well you take our vehicles from us so we will take this one back’.
“Anybody who would drive a truck through an army gate like that could be capable of driving through a customs checkpoint or even driving at the customs staff working at it,” said one Customs source.
Gardaí in Dundalk have appealed for anyone, who saw the tanker which drove as speed along the point road towards the inner relief road and the border, to contact them or the garda confidential line.
“It would have considerable damage caused to the front of the vehicle including having its lights broken,” said a garda spokesman.
The army has handed over CCTV from the barracks to the gardaí. Both the gardaí and customs regularly avail of Aiken barracks to store vehicles or items.
Yesterday, Dundalk-based Senator Mary Moran urged anyone with information on what happened to contact the gardaí. “Diesel laundering is an extremely costly and damaging crime to local, legitimate businesses,” she said. “It takes a community-based approach to shut down criminals like this.”
