Pollution in a County Armagh lake has been blamed on a fuel laundering plant. A red diesel leak into Lowry's Lake, Hamiltonshawn, led Revenue and Customs officers to a nearby farm. Inspectors believe the site was capable of producing 21,000 litres of illicit fuel a week, which could have netted its owners almost £10,000 a week.
A significant amount of red diesel was reported in the lake by a caller to the water pollution hotline.
A Customs spokesman said, "This incident illustrates the devastating polluting effect that the trade of laundering and storing illicit fuel can have on the environment. We will continue to work closely with other organisations such as the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), to ensure that such activity is sought out."
The NIEA placed oil absorbent booms in a tributary feeding the lake in an attempt to stop more oil from leaking into it. Ian Needham from the NIEA said, "I think, with a reasonably rapid response and the deployment of anti-pollution equipment, we've avoided a more serious incident. Thankfully there doesn't seem to have been any fish mortalities."
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