ORGANISED crime gangs are targeting environmental contracts as a new way of laundering money

ORGANISED crime gangs are targeting environmental contracts as a new way of laundering money amid concerns that illegal dumps are being set up that could contaminate public water supplies.
The Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) said it had identified a growing trend of organised criminals becoming involved in contract companies which take refuse to landfill sites. The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) said it also had concerns about the way some sites were being run, in some cases without proper licences and permits. They fear chemicals are not being properly treated and are being allowed to escape into the ground and, ultimately, into water sources.

Senior SCDEA officers believe clampdowns on organised crime gangs, using businesses ranging from taxis to children's nurseries to launder drugs profits, has led to a search for other lucrative contracts in which large amounts of cash can be hidden.

The crime gangs are now becoming involved in businesses which gain large financial contracts to dispose of different types of waste at landfill sites and scrapyards.

Any business in Scotland which transports, treats or disposes of any type of waste must have a waste permit, or be registered with Sepa.

However, police sources say some contracts have gone to companies which were legitimately set up but which had links to organised crime.

Money made through criminal activity, such as drugs smuggling, is then funnelled into the company and passed off as legitimate profits. Crime bosses hope this will stop prosecutors from using Proceeds of Crime legislation to seize their assets, as the money they possess will have come from a legal waste management businesses rather than a criminal enterprise.

At the same time, Sepa said, some organised crime groups were setting up illegal waste disposal sites and landfills, which were not being run with the necessary permits and safety precautions, and harmed the environment.

Detective Superintendent Tom Tague, of the SCDEA's information unit, said: "We look closely at certain business types that crime groups could infiltrate, such as the security industry, taxi companies, and now environmental waste.

"They have their ill-gotten gains and they want to legitimise their money in some way and the environmental industry is an emerging one.

"It's a big business and quite easy to try to launder illegal money and legalise it."

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