TWO MEN HAVE been arrested in connection with a major oil laundering facility that has been discovered in Co Offaly.

One man in his 40s and one in his 50s were arrested and are being held in Tullamore garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

Customs officials have called the raid the most significant case of this nature in Ireland this year.

RTÉ reports that Customs Officials say that they believe a 100,000 litres of laundered oil were being produced every week at the facility. Volumes of this size potentially costs the Exchequer of €50,000 a week.

Assisted by the gardaí, customs officers seized 12,500 litres of laundered fuel, one vehicle and one gravel truck with a concealed tank of 20,000 litres capacity.

The facility was based on a farm on Offaly and had been distributing laundered oil across Ireland. Officers said that the discovery marked a disturbing trend of laundering facilities being found south of the border – where it had previously been suspected that such plants were operating from Northern Ireland.