1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186 
Crackdown on illegal fuel in Northern Ireland
Page 18
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
POLICE AND CUSTOMS last week seized 3,000 litres of illegal fuel from a site in West Belfast.
The seizure followed a raid on the site which ran alongside an operation selling the fuel at suspiciously low prices in the Agnes Street area. Enforcement action is being taken, not just against the operators of the site but also against nine drivers who were found buying fuel there.
Maggie Eyden, Customs head of detection for Northern Ireland, says; "The Customs and police operation shows how joint working, as part of the organised crime task force,can stop substantial amounts of harmful diesel entering the legitimate fuel market and supports HM Revenue and Customs' crackdown on the sale and use of illegal fuel right across Northern Ireland."
Illegal fuel is usually made by criminal gangs that remove the dye from rebated agricultural fuel with chemicals. Customs says that this scam costs the Treasury millions of pounds in lost revenue and warns that when the dyes are removed they are dumped, contaminating farmland and rivers.
The filtered fuel is also believed to damage engines, because the chemicals used to 'launder' the fuel remain in the diesel and can damage fuel pumps.