Spain: dismantling of a vast traffic of electronic waste to Africa

For two years, the network had been exporting electronic waste from the Canary Islands to the western coasts of Africa.

Illustrative photo: Playa de Las Amaricas, on the island of Tenerife, in July 2020. AFP - DESIREE MARTIN

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The Spanish authorities have dismantled a huge network, made up of at least 43 people, which for two years had been exporting electronic waste from the Canary archipelago to the coasts of West Africa, especially Senegal, Mauritania, Ghana and Nigeria.

They were arrested for environmental crime, falsifying documents and belonging to a criminal organization.

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With our correspondent in Madrid,

Mercury, lead, arsenic or even phosphorus.

These are the main toxic substances that were in this electronic waste, most often mobile phones.

Behind: a sophisticated organization that recovered electronic material from the legal market.

In general, these telephones, these game consoles or others, must, when they reach the end of their life, be entrusted to a specialized company, whose mission is to take care of their dismantling in order to avoid any risk of contamination. .

Instead, this electronic equipment was fraudulently scavenged and exported to West Africa, before being turned into second-hand items.

This system has enabled this network to make significant profits.

We are talking about 5,000 tonnes of this waste for a million and a half euros pocketed in two years.

The Spanish authorities specify that the substances contained in these electronic devices contribute to puncturing the ozone layer and accentuating global warming.

►Read also: Spain: traffickers pretend to be police to steal drugs

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• Spain

• Africa

• Senegal

• Mauritania

• Ghana

• Nigeria