29 Jun, 2020 @ 16:09
1 min read

Gang illegally exported tonnes of toxic waste from Spain to Africa

Toxic Waste

SPANISH police have arrested 34 people who were smuggling toxic waste from the Canary Islands to Africa.

Amongst the 2.5 tonnes of material were electrical goods destined to be melted down rather than disposed of safely.

The organised crime group was dismantled by the Guardia’s environmental arm  SEPRONA, with the support of Europol and the Italian Carabinieri.

Toxic Waste
TOXIC: Tonnes of electrical waste were sent to Africa

Those arrested are also suspected of document fraud to carry out their illegal activities.

The criminals loaded maritime containers with second-hand items, such as vehicle parts, household goods, and a huge amount of electrical waste and electronic equipment.

Investigators say that the unwanted electronics were shipped to several countries in Africa – mainly Nigeria – to be sold on to buyers there. The items were all obsolete and  not fit for use as the criminal network had sourced the equipment from rubbish bins, flea markets or simply from the street after they had been dumped.

One Italian woman was arrested for preparing customs clearance documents for the electric appliances stating they were in working order.

During 2018 and 2019, the network shipped goods 138 times from Tenerife.

Under Spanish and EU law, electronic devices – particularly fridges – must be disposed of properly by licenced businesses.

They can contain cadmium, mercury, lead, arsenic, oils, gases and other harmful substances.

Europol, which helped the Guardia Civil in the investigation, said that informal operations in developing countries, often employing underage workers, use open fires to melt some parts in order to extract aluminum and copper among other minerals.

Dilip Kuner

Dilip Kuner is a NCTJ-trained journalist whose first job was on the Folkestone Herald as a trainee in 1988.
He worked up the ladder to be chief reporter and sub editor on the Hastings Observer and later news editor on the Bridlington Free Press.
At the time of the first Gulf War he started working for the Sunday Mirror, covering news stories as diverse as Mick Jagger’s wedding to Jerry Hall (a scoop gleaned at the bar at Heathrow Airport) to massive rent rises at the ‘feudal village’ of Princess Diana’s childhood home of Althorp Park.
In 1994 he decided to move to Spain with his girlfriend (now wife) and brought up three children here.
He initially worked in restaurants with his father, before rejoining the media world in 2013, working in the local press before becoming a copywriter for international firms including Accenture, as well as within a well-known local marketing agency.
He joined the Olive Press as a self-employed journalist during the pandemic lock-down, becoming news editor a few months later.
Since then he has overseen the news desk and production of all six print editions of the Olive Press and had stories published in UK national newspapers and appeared on Sky News.

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