An array of forged documents discovered by Dundalk gardaí when they raided a sophisticated counterfeit printing operation on Tuesday night were believed to be used for money-laundering.
Forged driving licences, bank drafts, medical certificates, forged letterheads from the Revenue Commissioners, forged ESB bills and other documents were recovered. It is believed that a forged driving licence and utility bill could have been bought from the man behind this operation for under €200 and with them a bank account in a false name could be opened and used for criminal activities, primarily money-laundering.
Some of the forged items were obviously produced for use in Northern Ireland.
The man suspected of being behind this elaborate scam has links to Newry, Co Down.
The Garda operation to identify him has been under way since earlier this year and culminated with detectives raiding a so-called safe house he was using as a de facto printing press.
In a locked room they found state-of-the-art computers, printers, scanners and other electronic equipment which was used to produce the counterfeit items.
A number of passports were seized and will be examined to see if they had been forged or were stolen. A quantity of cash was also recovered and a file is being prepared for the DPP in relation to a 49 yearold man who was arrested on Wednesday night in relation to alleged offences under the Theft and Fraud Act. He was released without charge yesterday.