A Revenue Commissioners official in his 50s was last night being questioned by gardaí in Dublin on suspicion of involvement in tax evasion by some motor traders.
His arrest followed 30 co-ordinated raids on private and business premises undertaken by gardaí and Customs officers in the Dublin city area yesterday morning.
Overseen by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab), Operation Tie, which started at 6am and lasted three hours, led officers to take possession of 40 luxury cars and to seize a handgun and large quantities of legal and financial documentation.
The man was arrested in Finglas and is in his 50s. He has worked for the Revenue since the 1970s and is suspected of having played a key part in facilitating the fraud now under investigation. More arrests are expected soon.
More than 60 gardaí were involved in yesterday's operation. It also involved members of the Organised Crime Unit, the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Revenue investigators.
The 30 premises raided included the homes of the main players and their five car businesses around the Naas Road, Walkinstown and Clondalkin areas of the city.
Solicitors' and accountants' offices were also raided. The 9mm handgun was discovered in a warehouse close to one of the raided garages. Some 40 cars were taken control of, including Mercedes, Bentley, BMW and Range Rover models.
However, they will only be formally seized if Revenue checks identify irregularities in the way that they have been registered in Ireland.
A spokesman for the Revenue Commissioners confirmed a staff member had been arrested by the Garda. However, he declined to comment further.
Gardaí and Customs officials are looking at whether the garage owners under investigation were importing new and used cars into the country and then paying vehicle registration tax (VRT) at the basic rate, despite the vehicles being high specification models, which should have attracted the top rate of VRT.
The loss of revenue to the exchequer was as high as €20,000 per vehicle in some cases. However, reliable sources said that most of the vehicles registered would have involved a fraud valued at about €6,000.
Some of the cars were luxury 4x4s, which were imported as commercial vehicles. However, once registered at the low rate of VRT, they were then kitted out as passenger vehicles and sold accordingly.
Gardaí have suspected for a long period that the group of garage owners had been engaged in the illegal activity.
They believe that some of the men have been laundering the proceeds of organised crime through their businesses for a number of years. Some of the men are believed to be major players in the drugs trade. One made a major settlement with the Cab in recent years.
Others have recently invested money in property through a solicitor who is believed to have lost some of the funds due to the softening housing market in the Republic and abroad. This element is the subject of a separate investigation by the Cab.
The gang members are regarded by the Garda as being among the most dangerous criminals in Dublin.
Gardaí are trying to establish if the businesses being investigated as part of Operation Tie were being used for laundering purposes.