ARCHIVED - Man arrested after huge clandestine landfill is discovered in Fuente Álamo

A 63-year-old man from Fuente Álamo has been arrested as an alleged perpetrator of crimes against natural resources and the environment

Agents of the Guardia Civíl Guard have dismantled a clandestine rubbish dump on a 15,000-square-meter plot of land, located in the municipality of Fuente Álamo, which culminated in the arrest of a 63-year-old man as the alleged perpetrator of crimes against natural resources natural and the environment.

Operation 'Inerte', began in October, when agents from the Nature Protection Service (SEPRONA) wing of the Guardia, detected significant extraction of aggregates from land located on the edge of the Rambla de la Murta , located in the municipality of Fuente Álamo.

From that moment, the Civil Guard established a surveillance operation in the area and verified that large-tonnage vehicles loaded with inert materials and construction waste would arrive in the area, dump their load into a seven metre hole dug for this purpose, then re-load with aggregates extracted from the original hole.

Having obtained sufficient material proof of those involved in the irregular practices, the researchers requested the corresponding administrative authorizations from the land owner, and found that the landowner lacked the authorization issued by the Segura Hydrographic Confederation for the extraction of aggregates, and any municipal building license for levelling works of the farm.

The land had been excavated creating a seven meter deep vessel in an area of more than 6,000 square meters that, at the time of the inspection, was full of rubble such as bricks, cement and plaster; as well as agricultural plastics, irrigation hoses and empty bottles of highly polluting solvents, paints and asphalt.

According to the investigation, about 42,000 cubic meters of aggregates could have been extracted from the hole, creating significant environmental damage.

This type of dumping, generally without any prior waterproofing, can cause damage to the subterranean aquifers in the area as some of the deposited products are treated with polluting materials such as fiber cement, paints and asphates which leach into the soil, and over the years degrade, filtering into the natural water tables below the surface. These in turn, supply agricultural water, and the leaching of chemical substances into the subterranean waters can cause considerable damage within agricultural cultivation. In this case, as the dump concerned is on the edge of a rambla, the rubbish can be carried down along the rambla towards the sea.

For all these reasons, the promoter of the works, a resident of Fuente Álamo, was arrested as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against natural resources and the environment and the case will be further investigated by the Investigating Court of Cartagena before charges are bought.