Belgian police have raided homes and a storage facility in Noord-Brabant in a cross-border investigation into illegal waste disposal.

Six people were arrested in Flanders as part of an inquiry into a criminal organisation suspected of dumping toxic waste, such as chemicals produced during illegal drug production and asbestos from demolished farm buildings.

Police also recovered an illegal firearm and €430,000 in cash during the raids.

Sources close to the investigation told BN/De Stem that Peet W., a manure dealer based in Baarle-Nassau, was one of the main suspects in the investigation.

They said the gang specialised in processing “problem waste” by burying it or mixing it with fertiliser and ploughing it into the soil.

W.’s house was searched but he was not arrested because he was not at home at the time. Business premises in Esbeek belonging to another Dutch suspect in the case, Geert H., were also raided as part of the investigation.

W. was the co-owner of Fertikal, a company at the centre of a cross-border investigation four years ago in which Belgian police raided 30 premises. His alleged accomplice, Geert H., is said to be one of the leading voices in the Belgian branch of the militant protest group Farmers Defence Force.

In a separate case of fraud at Fertikal, W. has accepted a community service order of 900 hours, a €250,000 fine and a ban from running agricultural businesses for three years in a plea bargaining deal with the prosecution service. The district court in Den Bosch will decide next month whether to impose the sentence.