• Spot checks by Customs officers throughout the Republic of
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Ireland have caught 587 vehicles using illegal diesel. At least half the offences discovered during the two-week campaign in May were in the North-East region, near the border with Northern Ireland. One operator from Munster was caught with rebated green diesel in all 24 trucks in his fleet. Of the other vehicles stopped at checkpoints: • 452 were using green diesel from the Republic; • 123 were using red diesel from Northern Ireland; • 12 were using paraffin; • Four had concealed fuel tanks to avoid detection.
A Customs spokesman says: "This is the first time in quite a while that an inspection has been done on a nationwide basis. It's now going to be part of ongoing investigations throughout the summer. This operation has been quite successful but it's impossible to gauge what the ultimate figures may be."
Hundreds of cases will come before the Irish courts in the coming months. The maximum fine is £1,000 per offence, but in the case of repeat offences Customs can seize the vehicle.
• Irish Customs officers seized yet another consignment of smuggled cigarettes last week, this time from a truck in Dundalk. The 6.7 million cigarettes, with a value of 11111.2m, had been imported through Dublin port from China.
The Revenue National Freight Intelligence Unit has seized 102 million cigarettes with a value of IR.119m since It was sat up last year.