Two arrested over piles of dumped illegal waste

Two men have been arrested after large quantities of waste was found illegally dumped in a field near the M25 in Essex.

It was left on private land in Stapleford Tawney, near Brentwood, on Friday.

Essex Police were alerted and found a lorry full of construction and demolition waste with more rubbish spread over a wide area.

They arrested a 55-year-old from Horley in Surrey and a 25-year-old from Mullaghbawn in County Down. Both were being questioned as part of an Environment Agency investigation.

The lorry, whose wheels had sunk in thick mud, was seized.

Two mobile phones and a laptop were also recovered, the agency said.

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Barry Russell, from the Environment Agency, said: "I share the public's anger at waste crime, where those responsible have no care for the environment.

"Thanks to the person who rang 999 and the quick work of Essex Police, my environmental crime team are using the arrests and seizures to continue investigating this suspected illegal waste dump."

The agency said there had been a series of raids on addresses across England by its officers and police "looking into large-scale waste crime, as well as fraud and money laundering".

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