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NIGERIA/TOXIC WASTEBack
[Published: Thursday October 21 2010]

 Nigeria probes disappearance of 'toxic waste' ship

Abuja, 21 Oct-(ANA)-Nigeria's environment watchdog has ordered an inquiry into the apparent disappearance of a UK-registered ship it said had dumped toxic waste.

The watchdog said the Grand America had offloaded containers of electronic waste before disembarking.

But a customs official later said the containers had not been offloaded, and the ship was allowed to leave because no-one had ordered it to be impounded.

Africa, India and China have become favoured destinations for e-waste.

The Grand America was detained at the port about a week ago, together with another ship carrying a similar cargo.

Customs spokesman Wale Adeniyi said that officials from the environment agency had inspected the ship’s cargo last week.

He said it consisted of used TVs, computer monitors and other electronics, and the agency had deemed the cargo toxic.

So the cargo was returned to the vessel and it was allowed to leave, he said.

The Basel Action Network, a pressure group that monitors the trade in hazardous waste, has raised the alarm about toxic e-waste ending up in Nigeria.

In a recent report the body claimed that about 500 containers with 400,000 second-hand computers were unloaded every month in Lagos ports. (ANA)

FA/ANA/21 October 2010-------


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