Profit in dirt

By Anton McCabe

At the end of March four illegaldumpers held me prisoner on a secluded farm in Co Fermanagh and threatened to kill me. Had they felt they could get away with it, I would have joined Northern Ireland's other disappeared.

For the past year, I have been investigating the multi-million pound cross-Border waste racket. For the criminals involved, the money involved makes it worth threatening people, and killing them if that is needed to protect their interests. At least one newspaper pulled out of investigating the racket from simple fear.

The four who threatened me were a few miles outside of Irvinestown. Illegal dumping has been going on at the farm for a couple of years. I got a tip-off round dinner time on a Monday that a lorry loaded with waste had broken down at the foot of the lane, and drove out. When I got there, the lorry had been fixed and gone on into the farm. I told people in the area I was going on up, and to raise the alarm if I was too long. For safety, I had their number ready to dial. When I got close to a ramshackle complex of farm buildings past a farmhouse, four men rushed me, pinned me up against a wall, and roared threats, before I had time to touch the mobile.

I introduced myself as a journalist, and, while they clearly recognized my name, they weren't interested in explaining their case.

They were like wild men from a past age. All had from two to six days growth of beard, and hadn't washed recently, if ever. Three were members of one family, known to associate with local criminals. The lorry driver stayed back and was the one who took command. The oldest, a man in his fifties, made to take off his coat and danced about waving his fists in my face shouting "Come on and fight me, your f**king b*****d" he kept on roaring. The youngest, somewhere in his middle twenties, was particularly hyper.

Both he and the older man threatened to blow my head off. "Let's tie the b******d up with a rope till he tells us who sent him" he further suggested. The youngest searched me and found my digital camera and mobile. Picking up the mobile, he saw the number on the screen. "It's them b*****ds" he announced. They knew local residents were aware where I was. "Let him go" the lorry driver said, after about a quarter of an hour. The four followed me down to the start of the lane, with the youngest roaring abuse in my ear. "Let's run the b******d down when he's going down the lane" was his parting greeting. When walking down he passed me in a car. He drew his fingers across his throat to say what he'd like to do with me. The four were crafty. They manhandled me, but didn't hit me, or leave any marks. They knew the line in the sand not to cross. Don't over-estimate their craftiness: three of them were dumping rubbish within a couple of hundred yards of the family home.

The previous month I had found briefing papers from the Southern Department of Justice for the European Union presidency on an illegal dump behind a chicken-shed at Eskra, south of Omagh. The Southern government, so arrogant about it’s position in the EU, was not keen I had exposed that chickens were shitting on its confidential documents. I sent a press query to the Department of Justice in Dublin. Three months on, the press office still haven't sent a reply. Instead I got four visits from the PSNI, seeking the documents. I couldn't complain about the officer who called.

He made it clear the PSNI was under pressure from the Southern authorities at a very high level, and as far as the PSNI were concerned I had committed no crime. He had no problems with my refusal to hand the documents over. This was more energy than the Southern authorities have ever shown in tackling the problem. It is poisoning parts of the country. The privatisation of waste disposal in the South opened the way for this disaster. In Cork, it costs Euro 200 per tonne to dump on the Council's landfill. It costs as little as £200 per load to dump illegally, with a lorry carrying maybe 30 tonnes and dumping it in a hole in a field, a dug-out sandpit or on bogland.

When the racket started there were big dumps in Wicklow. The authorities, belatedly, clamped down. So it moved North.

In the North, nobody was on the alert. The Councils were underresourced to police it: at the start of the year, responsibility was transferred to an equally underresourced Environment and Heritage Service. Around the Border, there is a big smuggling network, which moves what is profitable at any given time. It is seen as roguery rather than criminality. I know of fifteen illegal landfills in the Tyrone and Fermanagh area, one in Co Derry, three in Armagh, and there are constant rumours about Co’s Down and Antrim. The major source of waste in Tyrone and Fermanagh that can be identified is Cork, Waterford and Wexford.That is about as far away on this island as you can get.

There is no great pressure on the local authorities, because the dumping isn't taking place locally. Privatisation has meant handing over waste to organized crime. Joe Higgins TD and 21 others have so far been jailed for protesting against bin charges in Dublin.

To date nobody has served a day in prison for this trade. Damian McPhillips, with an address at Derrylin Co Fermanagh, was sentenced to six months in jail after the driver of one of his waste lorries crashed near Mitchelstown, Co Cork, in May last year. He is currently on bail pending appeal.

For criminals, this trade is a lot less risky than drugs. Drug dealing carries a sentence of up to fourteen years. It is hugely profitable. One gang is making £12,000 per day. The authorities are way behind them. Most of the waste passes through Co Monaghan, but the County Council only has two waste prevention officers, and is seeking funding for others. Very little of the waste originates from Monaghan, but comes from counties further south. Monaghan is one of the South's poorer counties.This is literally poisoning areas. Nobody knows what is going in to these dumps, because they are not being supervised.

The landowners are making least from it, but still making quite a bit: twenty or thirty loads represent a handy reward for some poor land. Some are so greedy they aren't just willing to poison the community, they are quite willing to poison themselves. My acquaintances in Fermanagh are dumping about 200 yards from their house. One man in Tyrone lived in a very pleasant, modern bungalow with a panoramic view across miles of countryside and thousands of tonnes of waste dumped in front and at the side of his house.

Another Tyrone man was dumping in a sandpit at the side of the house where he lives with his wife and family. The criminals are supplied by supposedly legitimate waste businesses in the South. They include supposedly legitimate businesses in the North. As in all forms of criminality, religious and political differences never rear their ugly head.

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