Garbage treatment plants in the Campania region had made deals with public officials allowing them to illegally flush contaminated liquids straight into the sea without treating them, the Corriere della Sera said, citing the Naples prosecutors' office.

The liquids, which had lain stagnant underneath the garbage, polluted dozens of kilometres (miles) of coast line in the Naples region, it said.

Thirty-eight people are under investigation for "delinquent association, fraud and crimes against the environment." Of the 14 detained, eight have been imprisoned and six others are being kept under house arrest, the Repubblica daily said.

Among those under house arrest is Marta di Gennaro, ex-number two at the Civil Protection Agency, an emergency body often called on to tackle the long-running garbage crisis in the Campania region.

Corrado Catennaci, Naples prefect and former garbage commissioner in Campania, and Gianfranco Mascazzini, a senior figure at the environment ministry, are also under house arrest, ANSA news agency said.

The Campania region has been struggling with an ongoing rubbish crisis for years, with critics pointing to government mismanagement and corruption as well as the infiltration of the Camorra, the local mafia.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi returned to power in 2008 promising to sort out the long-running waste disposal problem once and for all.

At the time, authorities pledged to build incinerators which have yet to materialise. Experts recently said it would take at least three years to finish building the necessary waste disposal plants to clean up Naples.

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