A LOAD OF poisonous waste from diesel laundering was found dumped in Louth yesterday. It also emerged yesterday that filling stations on both sides of the Border have been raided by Customs officers from the North and the Republic.
The garages are suspected of selling the illegally laundered fuel. At the single station raided in the Republic, in Cootehill, Co Cavan, Revenue enforcement officers removed about 14,000 litres of laundered diesel from an underground storage tank.
The trailer discovered near Ardee, Co Louth, yesterday is believed to contain large volumes of the tar-like residue that is left over after the fuel is “cleaned” of either red or green dye. It is the second such trailer found in the last week.
The coloured diesel has a reduced rate of excise duty for agricultural use but is bought by smugglers and criminals who “clean” it and try to sell it on as bona fides auto diesel.
In the Republic, the green diesel sells for about 65c a litre compared to about €1.10 for auto diesel; in the North the red diesel sells for about 70 pence a litre and auto diesel is about £1.09.
A spokesman for the local council said that a 40ft trailer which was “at and end of life condition with all markings removed”, was found abandoned outside Dundalk last week.
Inside it were 16 large plastic containers containing 18 tonnes of the residue.
The diesel is removed at laundering plants which are often mobile. “Their detection by the authorities proves difficult especially in areas adjacent to the Border,” the council said.
“The waste residue from fixed and mobile laundering plants is usually abandoned at road lay-bys with larger quantities being abandoned in 40ft trailers which generally are at end-of-life condition with all identification markings removed.”
The residue is hazardous waste “which contains mostly acid mixed with diesel oil and is highly corrosive. The acid material is a potential hazard to the health and safety of persons and the oil content is a hazard to the environment.”
There is an oily odour from it and the containers are typically plastic or metal 200 litre barrels, or plastic cube-shaped containers.