Five arrested in cross-county fuel fraud operation

Five arrests were made today in a major cross-border, multi-agency fuel fraud operation.

Officers from Revenue’s Customs Service, gardaí and the Criminal Assets Bureau seized thousands of litres of laundered fuel from filling stations and uncovered an oil-laundering plant.

In operations in counties Roscommon, Galway, Offaly, Westmeath and Dublin, customs officers, gardaí and CAB carried out searches at five filling stations, in which a total of 48,350 litres of laundered fuel was seized.

Four men were arrested by gardaí during the operation. A man in his 20s and a second in his 30s are currently detained at Monaghan garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.

Two men aged in their 40s are also detained at Tullamore and Roscommon Garda Stations under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984.

In Roscommon, officers seized 4,700 litres of fuel. In Loughrea, Co Galway, 6,150 litres were seized.

In Birr, Co. Offaly, officers seized 17,000 litres of fuel. In Athlone officers seized 11,500 litres of fuel and in Dublin 9,000 litres of laundered fuel was seized at one filling station in the Rathfarnham area.

In a simultaneous operation in Corrygarry, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, customs officers supported by gardaí uncovered a significant oil-laundering plant. The plant had the capacity to launder an estimated 18 million litres of fuel per annum with a potential loss to the Exchequer of €9m per annum. A laundering operation was underway at the time.

Customs Officers seized 95,000 litres of product at the site. Three tankers in which the product was held were also 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.

A man in his thirties from Northern Ireland was arrested at the scene.

In counties Armagh and Tyrone, HM Revenue and Customs supported by the PSNI, executed search warrants at four addresses.