Environment Agency raids lead to four arrests

Operation Argument, launched as part of a crackdown on waste crime across the two regions, saw 10 premises suspected of containing illegally baled waste raided by police and the Environment Agency between 8am and 1pm yesterday (November 13).

Around 90 officers from the Environment Agency, West Midlands Police, British Transport Police, and West Mercia Police took part in the raids which saw four suspects arrested and a number of computers, phones, and relevant documents seized for further examination.

The four individuals, which have not been named, were interviewed in custody at Wednesfield police station by environmental crime team officers and later released on bail.

The operation, which was conducted from the Tally Ho! conference centre in Birmingham, followed surveillance and information gathered from members of the public and police, after six illegal waste sites were discovered by the Environment Agency between April and June this year.

The sites, mostly warehouses, had received more than 2,000 bales of waste weighing 1.4 tonnes each. Removal of the waste, a responsibility which fell on the site operators and landowners, was estimated at over 3 million.

The Environment Agency has warned further arrests are planned as the result of yesterdays raids and detailed intelligence work with its partner agencies.

Operation Mosaic

Meanwhile in the south of the country, the operation follows the successful prosecution of a Chichester-based skip hire firm yesterday, in an unrelated prosecution after the company admitted to illegal trading for over eight years without planning permission or environmental permits.

The prosecution, which was brought by the Environment Agency as part of Operation Mosaic, saw Maxi Skips Ltd fined 15,000 and ordered to pay costs of 2,500 after pleading guilty to the waste offence at Worthing Magistrates Court.

Following a visit to the West Sussex site in September 2012, Agency officers ordered the companys director to halt operations when they witnessed staff sorting waste from the skips that had been brought in.

Simon Moore of the Environment Agency said it was disappointing the skip hire firm had flouted the law in the pursuit of profits.

Initiative

He added: Operation Mosaic is an ongoing initiative and the net is closing in on people who think they can make easy money undercutting legitimate waste businesses by putting the local environment at risk. We are constantly gathering information on illegal waste sites, criminal activities and environmental crime in the Chichester district and across the Solent.

Together with our partners we are taking a zero tolerance approach against offenders. In cases like this where individuals consistently operate illegally, we have absolutely no hesitation in prosecuting them as we want to make sure that waste crime doesnt pay.