A fuel laundering operation which had the potential to cheat the public purse out of more than £750,000 sterling has been raided by customs officials, it emerged today.
Maggie Eyden
A man was arrested following the swoop on a farm near Tobermore, Co Derry last night.
The rural site had the capacity to produce 30,000 litres of laundered fuel per week. HM Revenue & Customs and PSNI officers dismantled the sophisticated plant which was housed in farm buildings.
Investigators also recovered 10,350 litres of laundered fuel and seized a lorry, forklift truck, pumps, filtration and storage equipment.
Around four tonnes of toxic contaminated sludge, the hazardous chemical residue of the laundering process, were cleared from the site.
Maggie Eyden, HMRC Head of Detection Northern Ireland, said: "If this sophisticated operation to illegally remove the chemical markers in duty-rebated fuel had not been shut down, it would have meant an annual revenue loss of around £780,000.
"This is revenue that should be going to our schools and hospitals, not into the pockets of a few individuals." Ms Eyden said the waste presented a danger to the local community and was difficult to dispose of safely.
She added: "People need to be aware of the potential environmental damage that can be caused by the indiscriminate dumping in our countryside of the waste products from the laundering process.
"They need to consider what happens to the waste by product and the damage caused by contamination to arable land and our water and rivers."