SAS veterans are being deployed undercover to help tackle violent criminal networks moving into fly-tipping.
Veterans from the SAS to special reconnaissance regiment (SRR) service personnel are among those involved in the scheme.
They specialise in surveillance and "close-target" undercover work and are drafted in to collect evidence against organised crime groups.
The criminal groups use collusion, corruption and the threat of violence to profit from environmental offences.
The specialist teams are made of former soldiers who have served around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
They are helping to uncover criminals networks around the country who are continuing to increasingly exploit the waste industry in massive fraud and fly-tipping schemes.
The schemes involve household recycling and the dumping or burying of toxic and dangerous substances to evade landfill charges and other taxes.
One security specialist, the Subrosa Group, has even hired a full-time unit of surveillance operatives.
The group is hired by councils to crack down on these sort of offences and has brought in the specialists, the Guardian reports.
