FOUR PEOPLE WERE arrested today following an anti-fuel laundering operation in several counties involving the gardaí, the Criminal Assets Bureau and the Revenue’s Customs Service.

PSNI and HM Customs officers also took part in the operation.

Gardaí, CAB and Customs carried out coordinated searches on five petrol stations in counties Roscommon, Galway, Offaly, Westmeath and Dublin. A total of 48,350 litres of laundered fuel was seized by the authorities in these counties.

An oil laundering plant was uncovered in an operation at Corrygarry, Castleblaney, Co Monaghan. The Revenue Commissioners described the facility as “significant” and estimates it is capable of laundering 18 million litres of fuel per year, with the potential loss to the Exchequer of €9 million a year.

Two transit vans, a 40-foot tanker, an articulated lorry and a box lorry were seized at the scene.

Meanwhile, PSNI and HM Revenue and Customs officers carried out searches on four addresses in Co Tyrone and Armagh.

Four men were arrested by gardaí during today’s operations: two aged in their 20s and 30s are being held in Monaghan, and two men in their 40s are being detained at Tullamore and Roscommon Garda Stations. Overall, around 140,000 litres of laundered fuel was seized today.

Gardaí say that the operations were part of an ongoing investigation into organised criminal activity.