A GANG operating a sophisticated diesel laundering plant uncovered by Customs and gardaí in Co Meath yesterday was making a profit of close to €100,000 a week, according to informed sources.
Situated in two large sheds on a farm near Wilkinstown, the plant was raided at 8.30am in what was the culmination of a wide-ranging investigation by gardaí and Customs.
Such plants are traditionally found closer to the Border but recent high-profile raids on plants, particularly in counties Louth and Monaghan, have seen such operations being moved in the hope of avoiding detection.
“It is a trend we have seen in recent months; late last year we raided two plants in Co Offaly,” said a Customs source.
The Co Meath plant was operating out of sheds on a farm and was well laid-out and “up and running” when it was raided.
Two tankers were seized along with four vehicles and a range of equipment, including bleaching earth used to remove dye from cheaper diesel. The tankers each hold 36,000 litres of diesel.
Officials believe one tanker would arrive containing legitimate green diesel, which is sold for agricultural and off-road use and sells at about 70 cent a litre.
That diesel is then pumped into the second tanker. The bleaching earth is added, a compressor turned on to pump air into it to mix it into the diesel and the sediment containing the green dye falls to the bottom leaving behind what appears to be genuine “white” auto diesel.
This “washed” diesel is then ready to be transported to forecourts and “it is quite possible” it would have been sold to forecourts in the Republic as well as in the North, say Customs sources.
They estimate that if the gang sold the washed diesel at €1.20 a litre it was making a profit of “at least €100,000” a week. However, some sources believe that is a conservative estimate.
Some 30,000 litres of laundered fuel were seized yesterday, along with 12,000 litres of the sludge or remnants of the laundering process.
Gardaí arrested four men who were on the premises for an alleged breach of the Revenue Act. The men, who were detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act at Navan and Kells Garda stations, are aged between 30 and 50. One is from Meath, one from Louth and two are from the North. They were later released weithout charge.
A spokesman for the Revenue Commissioners estimated that the plant had the capacity to launder 7.8 million litres a year, with a potential loss to the exchequer in unpaid taxes and duties of about €4 million.