The Limburg Federal Judicial Police arrested 19 people in 31 searches on Tuesday as part of a judicial investigation into a criminal organisation involved in large-scale fuel oil fraud and the laundering of criminal funds.
Police discovered four bleaching plants, where criminals remove the identifying red colouring added to untaxed red diesel, and their remains in Hensies and Estaimpuis (two Hainaut municipalities located along the French border), as well as Zutendaal, Jeumont in France and Weert in the Netherlands. The 19 people arrested will be presented to an examining magistrate on Tuesday and Wednesday.
More than €100,000 in cash and larger sums held in bank accounts were also seized, along with a kilo of gold and two firearms with 25 kilos of ammunition.
Agricultural equipment, including four tankers, two tractors, a trailer, as well as eight luxury vehicles was also seized, along with various data media and documents. Service stations suspected of being points of sale for fraudulent fuel oil were sealed off based on the findings.
Millions in damage
"By removing the colour from fuel oil on a large scale, criminal organisations seek to evade excise duty and generate very substantial illegal profits. They then try to reinject the dirty money into the legal economy using various money-laundering techniques," explained Bruno Coppin, from the Limburg public prosecutor's office. "The damage suffered by the public authorities runs into millions of euros."
The searches carried out by the Limburg Federal Judicial Police involved more than 150 police officers. The Federal Judicial Police of Leuven, Eupen, Liège, Antwerp and Brussels were involved, as well as several local police areas, the Directorate of Canine Support (DACH) and the General Administration of Customs and Excise.
French and Dutch police officers also took part in the searches carried out in Jeumont and Weert.
