SPANISH police have detained four people after finally foiling a fly-tipping gang who smuggled more than 46,000 tonnes of rubbish across the border from France.
Arrests and searches were carried out in late June across south-east France and Catalunya in a coordinated operation, codenamed ‘Franger’, led by the Guardia Civil, French Gendarmerie and Europol.
Officers arrested two men, aged 39 and 70 of Spanish and French nationality, and two women, aged 62 and 66 of Spanish and Italian nationality, after discovering that the quartet had set up an elaborate network to dump waste in Spain.
The criminal gang, based in Barcelona, used falsified documents to import municipal and industrial waste across the French border.
The rubbish was disguised under descriptions such as ‘soil’, which allowed them to dodge Spanish tax obligations and avoid the high environmental taxes applied to this type of waste in France.
Once in Spain, the waste was dumped illegally and without any required safety measures.
READ MORE: British expat launches project to clean up ‘layer of filth’ on Almeria’s Tabernas desert
Some of it was buried secretly in agricultural land in the municipality of Sant Esteve Sesrovires, near Barcelona.
The rest was sent to four inert waste landfills and three non-hazardous waste sites, where materials including wood, plastics and packaging mixed with soil.
Official analysis of the rubbish confirmed that some contained hazardous materials, including hydrocarbons and heavy metals.
These are toxic to humans and capable of causing serious environmental damage, with a technical report set to outline the risk posed to local residents, groundwater and agricultural crops.
The individuals arrested face charges of crimes against natural resources and the environment, documents falsification, tax fraud, fraud, money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation.
Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.
