A MAN HAS been arrested in Co Armagh after police in Northern Ireland found a diesel laundering plant in the county – along with 60,000 litres of toxic waste.

The premises was raided by officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland in tandem with offers from the UK Revenue and Customs offices, according to RTÉ.

There were 19,000 litres of laundered diesel on the site, as well as four filtration units and a vehicle – all of which was seized. The Belfast Telegraph explains that the filters in question are used to remove the red colouring from agricultural diesel, which is taxed less heavily.

The clear fuel is then sold on to commercial drivers, who buy it in the knowledge that the illicit produce cannot be discerned from ‘legal’ diesel by police officers who might happen to stop the vehicle and inspect it.

The plant had the ability to produce up to 8 million litres of illegal diesel a year.

A spokesman for the UK customs office described the volume of toxic waste found on the site as “staggering” and remarked that it could “cause severe damage to the environment with taxpayers and local ratepayers having to pay for the clean up costs”.

“We continue to work closely with our colleagues in the Organised Crime Task Force to stop the damage this criminal activity causes to our communities, to local businesses and the environment.”

The man arrested has been released on bail.