The Environment Ministry is moving ahead with plans to prosecute anyone involved in the illegal dumping of truck loads of construction waste on a prime piece of marsh land.

Enforcement officer Sheldon Fox said the ministry had prepared a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions and had examined the best options in order to deal with the people alleged to have been dumping rubble on Devonshire Marsh.

It is now pulling together statements and moving towards the final phase - of taking people to court.

It will come after months of aggravation for the Ministry in which a stop notice was served on Rodrigues Excavating and Rodrigues Trucking, companies owned by Paul Rodrigues, which are said to have been responsible for the dumping.

A report produced by the Ministry last week and released to The Royal Gazette stated that it was "one of the most blatant examples of environmental destruction ever encountered in Bermuda".

The report said that when the complaint was first made by a member of the public in November last year, a Government conservationist went to the site to inspect it.

At the point, he estimated that between 50 and 70 truckloads of debris had been dumped - but more have since followed.

The report states that almost all of the marsh, opposite Bermuda Mechanical Company, is zoned as agricultural land, with a small segment zoned as industrial.

But Government officials also claim the dumping has encroached onto land labelled as a nature and woodland reserve.

And both the Bermuda National Trust and the Bermuda Audubon Society, as well as numerous members of the public, have expressed concerns about the dumping, which conservationists believe is already causing the land to subside.

And they have urged the courts to move quickly.

Mr. Fox said the ministry would attempt to prosecute anyone involved in the dumping of rubble and other debris on the land, or anyone who gave authority for it to happen.

He said: "We are now at the final stage of moving forward to the courts. There is still a few things we need to iron out, but this case is clear.

"We can go after any party involved - certainly any party that we have communicated with. My opinion is that people are blatantly flouting the law and showing absolutely no respect for the environment.

"We aim to bring this matter to a close as soon as possible."

Mr. Fox said although some of the land is industrial, and privately-owned, the ministry is objecting to the use of the industrial land now. He said it was vastly different from before.

He added: "There is the general issue with the intensification of the use...that's what we are objecting to."

Mr. Fox said the maximum penalty for someone convicted of the dumping would be $25,000. But he said illegal dumpers could also be forced to pay a fine for every day that passed after the stop notice was served on November 16.

Mr. Fox said he believes that property on the land was conveyed by Harrington Trust Ltd., in its capacity as trustees to the Hawthorne Trust, to State House Trust Company Ltd. last year.

Government's conservation officer Jeremy Madeiros said he was very worried about the future of the marsh land.

He said: "There is evidence that subsidence is already happening on the site, at a more rapid rate than we would have thought. Damage is being caused to the land and we don't know what effects its going to have on the surrounding nature reserve.

"All attempts should be made to stop who ever is doing this. So far we have had very little compliance from the individuals involved. They are simply treating the planning laws with contempt."

Amanda Outerbridge, of the Bermuda National Trust, said it was very concerned about the dumping and filling at the marsh.

She said: "It is potentially damaging to this area - and indicates a complete disregard for both Bermuda's environment and the established planning process.

"We depend on our environment for our general and economic health. Protection of it will become impossible if individuals flout the system just because they personally don't agree with it.

"We hope the courts will see fit to stop this dumping - and we hope that the Department of Planning will endeavour to find out where the material is coming from. Perhaps the contractor or building site owner providing the fill will assist in efforts to halt this environmentally damaging behaviour."

Mr. Rodrigues refused to comment on the latest development yesterday, but he has previously said that he believed the stop notice was wrongly worded because it banned him from dumping on agricultural land - while he claims he is only dumping on industrial land.

And he said his lawyer had told him it was irrelevent whether the site had permission to be used as sump because the dumping had gone on for more than seven years, and the use could therefore be "grandfathered" in.

Mr. Rodrigues said it was a private business and private land, and the land had been used for processing material for many years.

He added: "The stop order is not in dispute. It says stop dumping on agricultural land, but we are dumping on industrial land."