Hundreds of tonnes of rubbish are suspected to have been dumped and burned illegally in south east London, the local council has said.
Bromley Council uncovered “large mounds of burnt waste” tucked away in the woods in St Mary Cray.
It suspects the land was “being used as an illegal waste disposal site”, and that operations were taking place on an “industrial scale”.
If confirmed, it would be just one of hundreds of illegal waste sites across the country, which Sky News has been reporting on throughout the year.
The illicit trade is so lucrative it has been branded the “new narcotics”.
Bromley Council said four vehicles were seized from the site, which is in the London green belt, and one man has been arrested.
The mounds of charred rubbish it found suggest “hundreds of tonnes of waste may have been illegally disposed of”.
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A spokesperson for Bromley Council said: “It appears that an illegal, industrial-scale waste disposal operation has been set up, with the significant profits this can generate.”
They said investigations are ongoing, but they would also look into the “serious environmental damage that will no doubt have been caused”.
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The site is on land known as Waldens Farm, a former orchard that was split up and sold off in 1974.
It is now made up of approximately 800 small plots of roughly 10 metres by 30 metres, together totalling about 70 acres, the council said.
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The site has been earmarked for closure under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, due to the “substantial public nuisance and environmental harm resulting from persistent unlawful activities at the site”, Bromley Council said.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said that environmental crime is a “serious concern”.
They added: “It is a stark reminder as well to us all to carefully check the credentials of anyone we are proposing to use to dispose of waste, including checking they are a licensed waste carrier, to help ensure that waste is properly disposed of.”
