Police investigating the illegal dumping of 17,000 tonnes of asbestos waste are searching a property on the Central Coast.

Traces of asbestos have been found on the property at Kulnura where police are executing a search warrant.

Officers believe waste from a Sydney development site at Green Square has been dumped on the land.

Police say fake documents were created, making the developer think the dangerous material had been disposed of appropriately.

The same investigation saw a 48-year-old man was arrested at Sydney International Airport earlier this month for fraud offences totalling almost $4 million.

Police say fake documents were created, making the developer think the dangerous material had been disposed of appropriately.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton tells Ray Hadley fraudulent documents were created, allowing the developer to believe waste from the Green Square site had been appropriately disposed of.

“It was only the due diligence of the property owner in ensuring that that waste had been disposed of that exposed the fraud and has led us in the last month in our investigative direction to find that material today.”

Click PLAY below for the full story

He says it’s yet to be determined how much of the asbestos at the Kulnura site is from the Green Square site.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Walton says it’s “serious fraud” and there is “serious risk” that stems from the dumping of the waste.

He also tells Ray it comes with a warning for truck drivers.

“They’re turning up in these sites… they whiz up the highway, they’re paid cash to deliver the load. They drop and run somewhere and they know damn well it hasn’t gone to the appropriate site.

“And the next time they get pulled over by the police, it may not be for a bald tire, it may well be for some of these serious criminal offences which carry serious penalty.”