An illegal diesel laundering plant has polluted a rural area of South Armagh, with three tonnes of toxic waste and bleaching agent removed from the site.
The illegal open air operation, with the capacity to produce up to 10 million litres of illicit fuel a year whilst evading over £6m of tax revenue, was found on scrubland just metres from Concession Road.
It has been dismantled by HM Revenue & Customs.
HMRC working with the PSNI and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) seized 14,000 litres of laundered diesel, an oil tanker, storage tanks, trailers and laundering equipment.
Mike Connolly, Assistant Director, HMRC Specialist Investigations, said: "The pollution it caused shows the total disregard criminals have for our land and waterways.
"Indiscriminate dumping of the waste from the laundering process causes severe damage to our environment. Taxpayers and local ratepayers are then obliged to meet the costs of the clean up."
Anne Blacker, Head of Environmental Crime Unit, NIEA added: "HMRC was assisted in this operation by officers from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, who helped uncover large quantities of potentially hazardous sludge waste - a by-product of the illegal process of fuel laundering, which can have significant harmful consequences for the environment.
"The unregulated processing, storage, transport and delivery of adulterated fuel and the unregulated storage and deposit of the waste produced can contaminate and pollute both land and waterways."
© UTV News