A MAN has been arrested on suspicion of illegal asbestos dumping after the Echo revealed the source of a hazardous flytip.

Police and Environment Agency investigators took the 49-year-old into custody following a dawn raid in Laindon.

A recent Echo investigation revealed a load of asbestos flytipped at a Thurrock Council highways depot in Stanford-le-Hope came from the Champions Temple church, in Neasden, north-west London.

We found the material had been removed by South Ockendon asbestos removal company T&S Multiservices, which then hired a sub-contractor to dispose of it.

However, the asbestos never arrived at the Oxfordshire landfill site where it was supposed to go.

The Environment Agency was reported at the time to be keen to trace the sub-contractor.

The dumping at Stanford, on April 7, is being linked by the agency to nine other incidents, since March, six of which were in Thurrock. Together, they have been described as one of the worst cases of asbestos dumping recorded in the UK.

Rita Penman, an Environment Agency spokesman, said: “A 49-year-old man was arrested in Laindon. He was later released on bail. On the same day, a number of premises were raided in Billericay and Basildon. More arrests are likely in the near future.”

The suspect was interviewed by agency investigators and released on bail pending further inquiries.