Investigators in the German federal state of Lower Saxony suspect that companies from the Weserbergland region are behind hundreds of illegal waste shipments. According to the Hildesheim public prosecutor’s office and the Hameln-Pyrmont/Holzminden police, the material was allegedly exported unlawfully to other EU member states. The prosecutor’s office did not specify the type of waste when asked by the news agency dpa, saying only that it involved waste subject to declaration and special labelling.
The case has been under investigation since 2019. In both 2021 and 2023, large-scale raids were carried out at several waste management businesses in Lower Saxony and other German federal states. Evidence seized during those operations substantiated suspicions of illegal waste shipments, the authorities said. The investigation is being supported by Europol and Eurojust. Investigators have traced links to several European countries, with Poland emerging as a key focus.
To obtain further evidence, the Hildesheim public prosecutor’s office sought assistance from its counterpart in Poland. Polish authorities recently searched the premises of companies suspected of having illegally received waste, with support from police in Hameln and Europol experts, and secured a substantial amount of material.
"Both the international links and the scale of this investigation are exceptional. We would like to expressly thank the Polish authorities, and in particular our colleagues at Europol and Eurojust, without whose support this investigation could not have been carried out in this way," said Marie Lohmann, head of the central criminal investigation department at Hameln-Pyrmont/Holzminden police headquarters. (dpa/EUWID)
