A special investigation unit of the Department of Agriculture is to examine claims by German customs that beef it seized at the weekend bearing Irish stamps of origin came from Britain.
Some 60 tonnes of beef seized by customs officials in Germany last week originated in Britain, in violation of an EU export ban because of "mad cow" disease, a German customs spokesman said yesterday.
He added that a British stamp had been found on the meat, which was seized at a food import company in northern Germany.
Customs officials said they seized the meat in three containers shipped from Ireland in April, May and June.
Irish sources said a trade has developed in the last eight weeks using forged invoices to indicate that British beef was of Irish origin.
It is understood that the Department's investigation unit raided a premises in Dublin this week, where bogus invoices were discovered.
A Department spokesman said yesterday: "If the Garda have not yet been called in, they shortly will."
The seizure by German customs followed a tip-off from colleagues in Brussels, who doubted the validity of an Irish stamp and said a United Kingdom stamp had been removed from the meat.
A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture in Dublin said yesterday: "Ireland is one of several member-states helping the EU Commission to trace illegal exports of British beef. In this context, particular attention is being paid to all relevant documentation."
The spokesman said he did not believe the special investigation unit would travel to Germany but all the documents associated with the shipments from Ireland would be checked.
The Irish Farmers Association said that if the German charges were true, a "major scam" had to be in progress since British beef was not allowed onto the island of Ireland.
A German importer was arrested on Friday but freed after questioning. Investigators said he may not have known the meat was imported from Britain. If found guilty, he faces a sentence of up to five years in prison.
In June, French customs seized three containers of meat in the port of Le Havre, which investigators suspect may have been ordered by the same importer.
The European Union banned British beef exports in March 1996, after scientists established a link between "mad cow" disease and its human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD).