An assortment of smuggled fuel, cigarettes and clothes was uncovered following a two-month surveillance operation by Customs and Excise officers in Monaghan yesterday.
More than 60,000 litres of agricultural diesel that had been treated with chemicals to "wash" it of its colour was recovered along with 1.2 million smuggled cigarettes and a quantity of counterfeit football clothing including Ireland jerseys.
The seizures were made in two separate premises near Castleshane outside Monaghan town by the Clones-based customs officers.
The diesel was being held in tanks that had been concealed behind silage pits, and three underground storage tanks were also found.
Officers also seized a mobile laundering operation built on to a lorry so it could be easily transported and used to launder the diesel, which in this case appears to have been green and therefore sold at much reduced excise duties, for use in agricultural vehicles.
The plant had the capacity to launder up to 50,000 litres of diesel a week and could have lost the Revenue an annual €1.3 million.