A cross-Border team involving nearly 20 illegal dumping experts and police officers secretly followed a truck of waste over 100 miles from Co Wicklow into Northern Ireland, according to documents lodged with the High Court.
The Northern-registered truck, which was insured by Belfast haulage firm Raymond Crane and Co, was stopped by police and Northern Irish government officials in Co Down, and was found to contain nearly 20 tonnes of waste collected from homes and businesses in Co Wexford.
Details of the operation were contained in a series of affidavits lodged before the High Court in relation to a case by Wexford County Council against a waste collector, Mr Séamus Kelly, trading as Mr Séamus A. Kelly and Sons of Courtnacuddy, Enniscorthy, Co Wexford.
Yesterday the council sought a High Court injunction to prevent the operator from exporting waste outside the jurisdiction against the conditions of his waste permit.
Counsel for Mr Kelly, Mr Noel Whelan, "vehemently" denied that Mr Kelly was involved in any illegal dumping, however, and said he was fully compliant with his waste licence.
While acknowledging that some of the waste collected from Séamus Kelly and sons may have ended up in unlicensed dumps in Northern Ireland, he said it was not Mr Kelly's responsibility.
Mr Kelly had used another Newry-based licensed waste contractor to take his waste, and it was this company which was responsible for its disposal, he said.
Mr Justice Quirke adjourned the case until Friday to receive a detailed response from Mr Kelly, at which stage, he said, he would make a ruling on the application for an injunction.
During the proceedings, Mr Dermot Flanagan SC, for Wexford County Council, said Mr Kelly held a collection permit for the south-east region, including Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, but had no permit to export waste outside the jurisdiction.
He said that in an affidavit, Mr Eamon Hore, senior engineer with the council, said that Mr Kelly or his agents transported waste across the Border on two specific occasions.
Mr Hore said that waste was found at a site in Strabane, Co Tyrone, in September last year, while in September of this year a truckload of waste from Co Wexford was seized in Northern Ireland.
Mr Flanagan also referred in court to a series of affidavits outlining details of the two incidents.
According to the affidavits, a sophisticated surveillance operation was mounted on September 20th by staff from Dublin City Council (DCC) on a waste load.
According to an affidavit by Ms Sonia Deane, head of DCC's waste enforcement unit, five teams tracked the truck from the Tap pub, just north of Arklow, to the Border.
According to an affidavit from Mr James Wright of the Northern Ireland Environment and Heritage Service, (EHS), that truck and a second one were then followed by police to a remote quarry site at Rathfriland Road, north of Newry, Co Down.
The trucks were seized by EHS staff and police and found to contain domestic and commercial waste. The waste in one truck appeared to be from Wexford.
According to the court documents, waste was returned to Wexford County Council, where environmental consultants identified it as having been collected in Co Wexford in distinct red bags used by Mr Kelly and with his name on them.
The documents state the lorry cab used to transport the waste was in the name of Mr Cormac McCaffrey, of Maguiresbridge, Co Fermanagh.
Company records show that the truck's insurers, Raymond Crane and Company, of Castlereagh Road, Belfast, was sold in March and is now owned by a woman with an address in Co Fermanagh.