AN illegal Darwen filling station housing 12,000 litres of ‘laundered’ fuel has been shut down following a raid by customs bosses.

Officers from HM Revenue and Customs and Lancashire Police suspect the site could have produced up to 26 million litres of illegal diesel.

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And tax experts said the operation may have cost the Government £14.5 million in lost duty in the last year alone.

The authorities obtained a warrant to dismantle the station, in Apex Trading Estate, off Lower Eccleshill Road, on Tuesday.

The raid uncovered two mixing tanks , each with a 71,000-litre capacity, 12,000 litres of suspected laundered fuel, a forklift truck and other equipment.

Laundered fuel is red or green diesel which has been filtered through chemicals or acids to remove the government colouring marker. The chemicals and acids remain in the fuel and damage fuel pumps in diesel cars.

Pat Curtis, HMRC’s national oils co-ordinator, said: “Fuel laundering is a dangerous activity. We believe that fuel was stored, laundered and sold from this property without any safety precautions, endangering motorists buying fuel there.

“You may think buying illicit fuel is a bargain, but you have no idea what you’re getting, and you can be sure that you are lining the pockets of criminals. Each year £480 million is lost to fuel fraud in the UK, money that should be funding public services.

“We ask anyone with information about this type of activity to contact us on the customs hotline on 0800 59 5000.”

Mr Curtis said the diesel was laundered to remove government markers and then sold on to unsuspecting motorists as legitimate road fuel.

Det Sgt Tim Brown, from Lancashire Police, said: “This joint investigation demonstrates how we work together with partner agencies such as HMRC to disrupt and dismantle criminal activity on this scale.

“Let me be clear, the laundering of red diesel is illegal and this type of activity can go further, with those involved often being linked to other organised criminality.

“We will target those involved and need the public to work with us and ask them to report anything suspicious to us.”