The Czech government has stepped up border checks and vowed to increase monitoring of remote farmland areas after officials discovered over a dozen sites that German companies were illegally using to dump their waste.

The Czech environment ministry is now ascertaining the extent of the illicit waste disposal trade between German and Czech businesses. So far, about 15,000 tonnes of German waste has been discovered in the country. Most of the dumpsites have been found in north Bohemia.

Officials fear several more dumpsites will be found as investigations progress. The government has already imposed a us $12,000 fine on four Czech companies. It's not yet clear how this discovery will impact the Czech-German relations, which had been improving over the last year.