A 29-year-old man was arrested at an address near Preston, Lancashire, on the morning of 12 October 2026 in a joint operation by Lancashire Police and the Environment Agency, according to a press release published by the agency on 13 October 2026. He was questioned in connection with illegal dumping of waste at Callerton, near Newcastle Airport, and bailed pending further enquiries. The Callerton site has since been cleared by the landowner.

The arrest followed one in Sunderland the previous week linked to dumping at the former Dewhirst site on Thorpe Road, Peterlee, and at Hart Quarry in Hartlepool. A 32-year-old man was also bailed pending enquiries. The agency said the three sites together amount to thousands of tonnes of waste, and that all were reported over the summer, shut down with landowners and fitted with concrete blocks to stop access.

The Environment Agency said it was stepping up action under its 10-point waste crime plan, and cited an estimate that waste crime costs the UK over £1 billion every year. It asked the public to check the waste carrier register, keep written records of where waste goes, and report suspected waste crime to Crimestoppers or its incident line.