Interpol crackdown leads to seizure of 1.5m tons of illegal waste

More than 1½ million tons of illegally-disposed-of waste was seized in a month-long global clampdown on international waste crime, Interpol, the international police agency has announced.

The clampdown took place throughout June and involved law enforcement, customs and environmental agencies in 43 countries, including Ireland. Interpol, which co-ordinated the clampdown, said it was the largest global enforcement action against waste crime and trafficking, with police, customs, border and environmental agencies involved.

Previous actions had focused on electronic waste, but the operation in June included all types of illegal waste, such as industrial, construction, household and medical waste.

The majority of the illegal waste discovered during the operation was metal or electronic waste, generally related to the car industry, Interpol said. In total, 226 waste crimes were reported, in addition to 413 administrative violations.

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Criminal cases including 141 shipments carrying a total of 14,000 tons of illegal waste were identified, as well as 85 sites where more than one million tons of waste was illegally disposed. Some 326 individuals and 244 companies were reported to be involved in criminal or administrative violations.

Authorities in the Netherlands discovered more than 10,000 tons of waste suspected to be involved in illegal trafficking within Europe and from the Netherlands to countries in west Africa, south and southeast Asia, and the Caribbean.

Trafficking routes

The operation, initiated by Interpol’s Pollution Crime Working Group, also led to the identification of new transnational trafficking routes used by criminal networks. It also prevented 300 tons of hazardous waste being illegally transferred from Cyprus to Central America, with fraudulent documents and an intended transit route passing through multiple countries including Egypt, Malta, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and the US discovered.

The operational results confirmed that Asia and Africa were the main destinations for waste illegally exported from Europe and North America, with trafficking also occurring between countries within Europe.

"The '30 days of action' was a great success. Besides being the largest global anti-pollution operation ever, it shows what can be accomplished when countries work together to detect, disrupt and deter pollution crime, " said Joseph Poux, deputy chief of the environmental crimes section of the US department of justice, and chair of the Pollution Crime Working Group.