Raid dismantles diesel operation

Illegal fuel was seized in the raid

A fuel plant with the capacity to produce 100,000 litres of illegal laundered diesel per week has been dismantled in south Armagh.

Customs and police officers recovered 13,500 litres of laundered fuel during the search of farm buildings at Crossnenagh Road, Derrynoose, Keady.

More than three tonnes of toxic sludge was also cleared from the site.

The Customs service said the plant would have caused an annual revenue loss of about £2.25m.

The raid, on Thursday night, also netted pumps, compressors, filtration and storage equipment.

"This is revenue that should be going to our schools and hospitals, not into the pockets of a few individuals," Maggie Eyden of the service's head of detection in Northern Ireland said.

"Revenue and Customs officers have stopped a substantial amount of harmful diesel from damaging engines and affecting honest businesses," 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."

In another Customs operation on Thursday, 5,100 litres of illegal fuel was seized from a lorry which crashed after a police chase on the Killyleagh Road in Armagh.

One man was arrested and bailed to re-appear at a later date to help Customs with their inquiries.