THREE men have been arrested in Swindon over the alleged export of 99 shipping containers of illegal waste from the UK to Brazil.

Officers from the Environment Agency’s National Environmental Crime Team raided three properties in the town yesterday morning, as part of investigations into the origin of 1,400 tonnes of waste reportedly found in Brazilian ports.

Wiltshire Police arrested a 49-year-old, a 28-year-old and a 24-year old man in connection with the Environment Agency’s investigation.

Authorities claimed that at least two of the containers were filled with a mixture of household and clinical waste, including syringes and condoms.

Last week, Brazil’s Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) named two Swindon companies which it said it would be investigating after 1,400 tonnes of toxic waste turned up in containers at Santos, near São Paulo, and two other ports in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

One was Worldwide Biorecyclables, based at South Marston Park and which has a registered office in Commercial Road and specialises in recycling plastic. The other was UK Multiplas Recycling Ltd, which was registered with Companies House in March this year and whose office is registered at Cornwall Avenue in Rodbourne Cheney.

The site at South Marston is currently deserted with a notice posted on the building from March 23 of this year to tell people the lease had been forfeited.

Following the arrests, the Environment Agency, which has indicated that it will take back the waste from Brazil, said it could not yet confirm what the containers had in them.

The rubbish, which will be transported back to the UK by the shipping lines which took them to Brazil, will be investigated and then disposed of correctly, the EA said.

The shipping lines contracted to transport the containers from the UK to Brazil have agreed to repatriate the containers to the UK at their own expense.

Liz Parkes, head of waste and resource management at the Environment Agency, said that yesterday’s arrests marked significant progress in the investigation.

“The Environment Agency enforces the export of recyclable waste from England and Wales and will not hesitate to prosecute any company or individuals found to have breached the strict laws on the export of waste,” she said.

Waste can be sent abroad for recycling, but it is illegal to export it for disposal. The maximum penalty for breaking the rules is an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison.