Three men have been arrested for disguising huge amounts of waste as agricultural bales following an in-depth investigation.
The men were arrested near Peterborough on 21 January following a joint police and Environment Agency investigation into organised waste crime.
Deposits of waste, concealed as bales, were dumped across counties including Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire.
Officers from the Environment Agency and Cambridgeshire Police inspected the site where bales of waste were found in coloured plastic wrap.
Criminals have been known to dump waste in rural locations, concealing them as farming bales.
They are often found in rented or vacant warehouses or on farmland, and landowners have been duped by criminals into storing bales on their land.
Many farmers have often ended up paying high removal costs once they are revealed to be waste.
The Environment Agency said in a statement: "Police were integral to the arrests and custody of the suspects, enabling agency enforcement officers to successfully continue their investigation.
"We are appealing to landowners, businesses, and the public to report any plastic-wrapped bales they see in suspicious places, which are unlikely to be silage or hay stored by farmers or equestrian facilities.
"If you have any information that may assist with this investigation, please call our 24-hour hotline on 0800 807060.
"Or report anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or the Crimestoppers website."
