County Meath had the highest number of garages selling laundered diesel to unsuspecting motorists, according to a recent Customs service investigation.
A major breakthrough in the investigation into the distribution of diesel laundered at illegal plants was confirmed yesterday evening with the news that 12 garages are to be prosecuted for selling the illegal fuel.
This practice costs the Exchequer many millions of euro per annum in lost VAT and excise duties.
Three garages in Co Meath were selling the illegal fuel, two in Co Longford, two in Co Cavan, two in Co Roscommon, two in Co Louth and one in counties Wexford and Galway.
Files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions and cases against the proprietors are expected to begin in the autumn.
Customs and Excise officials said 72,000 litres of laundered diesel was also seized in the operation.
A mobile fuel laundering plant was also recovered. The laundering process involves the removal of a dye which is added to agricultural diesel. This is then resold as regular diesel which is considerably more expensive than agricultural diesel.
Customs and Excise estimate the State loses 44 cents for every litre of laundered diesel sold. In 2002, eight large laundering plants were discovered, some of which were capable of laundering over 7 million litres of diesel per annum.
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