Four Co Armagh fraudsters who made £1.2 million (€1.5 million) through smuggled fuel have been handed the first crime prevention orders in the UK.
They will be barred from selling oils and their assets and bank accounts will be open to official inspection for the next five years.
Newry Crown Court handed out the penalties yesterday after customs officers discovered an oil distribution company in Keady, Co Armagh, receiving illicit fuel from the Republic and passing it on to four Northern Ireland filling stations in November 2004.
The defendants controlled the distribution company and petrol stations. They pleaded guilty to being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of excise duty.
Three defendants, Bernard Hughes (48), and Fionnuala Kelly (39), both from Cathedral Road, Armagh, and Malachy Hughes (54), from the Portadown Road, Armagh received two years' imprisonment, suspended for five years, and had confiscation orders totalling £1.2 million served against them.
Michael Hughes (58), from the Castleblaney Road, Keady, Co Armagh, received a nine-month sentence that was suspended for two years.
Mr Justice Stevens said: "These were four professional smugglers. There was a clear pattern of deliveries made mainly in the early morning, with tankers scouted to filling stations controlled by the defendants, evidenced by Customs and Excise surveillance."