The Guardia Civil arrested 34 people from Africa for the export of waste to seven countries on the continent. The respondents recovered used electronic and electrical equipment which they exported to Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, The Gambia, Togo, Benin, Guinea Conakry and Sierra Leone. Nigeria was the first destination for these devices, which are often handled by children in Africa to extract aluminum and copper. In total, the seizures reach 2,500 tonnes. Between 2018 and 2019, 138 illegal shipments of hazardous waste had been made from Tenerife, according to the Guardia Civil which carried out the investigation with Europol.
The network benefited from the support of a 62-year-old Italian who was responsible for transmitting the necessary documents to customs, by falsifying the certificates to make believe that these devices worked perfectly, explains the Guardia Civil.
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