Major raid in North Rhine-Westphalia
Entrepreneurs dumped contaminated soil in Garzweiler
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Two businessmen cheat twice: They promise their customers in the construction industry that they will dispose of their contaminated soil properly. But they bring the toxic waste to the Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine – and hide the nature of their cargo in the landfill.
Businessmen from the building materials industry are said to have illegally brought contaminated soil to a landfill in the Garzweiler open-cast lignite mine in North Rhine-Westphalia. As the State Criminal Police Office in Düsseldorf and the public prosecutor's office in Dortmund announced, suspicion is directed against six suspects. They are said to have delivered “tons” of soil contaminated with pollutants. Therefore, 27 search warrants were executed on Tuesday.
According to investigators, the suspects are said to have forged several thousand delivery documents from waste disposal companies in order to save money on paying for the storage of soil containing pollutants. Their customers were also defrauded: the accused are said to have used fake receipts to deceive them about correct disposal and then billed them for this.
According to the State Criminal Police Office and the public prosecutor's office, the investigation is primarily aimed at a 56-year-old entrepreneur and his 24-year-old son. There are also four other accused. Searches took place in Grevenbroich, Jüchen and Krefeld, among others. More than 150 officers were on duty. Among other things, it concerns suspicions of soil contamination, forgery of documents and commercial fraud.
Subcontractor disguised trick
According to the investigators, the soil in question came from, among other things, large construction sites. The main suspects are said to have used several subcontractors for transport. The investigation was triggered by a criminal complaint from the district government in Düsseldorf. The case was then taken over by the State Criminal Police Office and a department of the Dortmund public prosecutor's office responsible for environmental crimes. The investigation continues.
The Garzweiler opencast mine is a mining area in the Rhenish lignite mining area northwest of Cologne. Brown coal has been mined there on a large scale to generate energy for decades. Parts of the site also serve as a landfill.
