Prosecutors in Hsinchu County have charged a large ring that dumped construction waste on farmland and hillsides for years, bad news for landowners and neighbors left with ruined land and cleanup bills.

• A 38-person group used "land leveling" and "soil backfill" as cover to dump broken concrete, brick, plastic, glass and scrap metal across five townships.
• The ring ran the whole chain — finding sites, collecting soil, hiring trucks, lookouts and diggers — and made over NT$100 million.
• Police were tipped off after residents spotted truck convoys hauling rubble into a rural valley, and found excavators burying it on the spot.
• One hillside site took more than 100 truckloads, washing soil away and blocking a mountain stream; some landowners rented out protected farmland and charged by the truck.
• Investigators detained 31 people, searched 13 sites and seized cash, land and a house; seven suspects are being held.

Outlook: The cases now go to court, and prosecutors say they will keep chasing the profits and are asking residents to report unexplained soil dumping.