Containers with illegal waste, spotted in Constanta maritime port

Containers loaded with waste brought via ship from various countries were spotted by the border police of southeastern Constanta port, the waste being illegally imported into Romania by two companies registered in the county of Prahova and Bucharest Municipality, the Coast Guard informed on Thursday.

The cargo were falsely declared as being used domestic goods.

"Upon informative activities carried out by the border police within the Coast Guard, there were two companies that were identified, one from the county of Prahova, and another from the Bucharest Municipality, which carried out activities of illegal import of waste into Romania. The goods were falsely declared at the customs authority as being debris from plastic material, namely from used domestic goods, but in reality they were unusable waste," according to a press release sent by the Coast Guard.

According to the quoted source, on April 7, the border police, in cooperation with workers from the Constanta Environmental Guard and the Constanta Sud Customs Office, under the coordination of the Public Prosecutor's Office attached to the Court of Appeal, have carried out the physical check of 5 containers unloaded form a Liberia pavilion ship, which was in Constanta Sud - Agigea port. The containers were loaded in Germany, and the goods were from a Belgian company.

Although, according to the documents presented at the border authority, the containers were full of unusable plastic material and wood, metallic and dangerous waste (batteries and metallic components, electrical tools) were found.

On the same day, the authorities discovered another container, with the same type of waste, brought into our country from Canada, via a ship with Liberian pavilion.

"In the two cases the measure of not allowing passage into Romania was taken by the commissioners of the Constanta Environmental Guard. In cause, the border police are carrying out research, under the coordination of the Public Prosecutor's Office attached to the Constanta Court of Appeal, invested in cause, under the aspect of committing the crimes of using non-real documents and illegal import of waste, violating legal provisions in the field, and the goods will be returned to the sender," the Coast Guard informed.

Continuing the research, according to the press release, 50 containers were identified, which were in the Constanta Sud - Agigea terminal, as well as other 15 containers which will be unloaded on the current day.AGERPRES