WIREDGOV

A Bradford man has been found guilty of illegal exporting of hazardous electrical waste to Afghanistan and fined £12200 (including costs).

The conviction comes the day after four more defendants were committed to stand trial in Basildon Crown Court in March, bringing to 15 the number of defendants facing prosecution in the Environment Agency’s largest investigation into the illegal export of electrical waste.

While, last week a Rochdale man was found guilty in Rochdale Magistrates Court of attempting to illegally send e-waste to Ghana in Africa.

In Bradford Crown Court today, following a two day trial, Naveed Sohail, 44, of Catergear Mill, Thornbury Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, was found guilty of four offences, including: attempting to export hazardous electrical waste to a developing country and storing hazardous e-waste without an environmental permit. Sohail, who had represented himself in court, was fined £1,000 for each of the four offences and was ordered to pay full prosecution costs of £8,200.

Louise Azmi, prosecuting counsel for the Environment Agency, told the court that Sohail was a director of Quest International Trading Limited ("Quest"), based at Catergear Mill, which collected electronic and electrical equipment for export abroad, specialising in second-hand computer monitors, stands and hard drives. The company carried out some minor repairs on site.

Waste exports are subject to the Transfrontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 2007, which ban the movement of electrical waste to developing countries because of the risk to human health and the environment through unsafe disposal and recovery methods, such as burning plastic components.

On 9 July 2009, Environment Agency officers attended Catergear Mill and provided Sohail with advice about the rules on exporting electrical items and the permits he might need. They raised concerns about the ways items were being packaged inside a container.

Sohail told the officers that his company did not purchase electrical waste and he would reject anything damaged in transit.

On 1 September 2009, a container was returned to Quest after checks identified the contents as electrical waste. It had been on its way to Afghanistan.

Environment officers examined items at the front of that container and found computer monitors, wrapped in clingfilm and stored on pallets. However, when a more extensive search was done it was apparent that computers behind the front rows had been haphazardly packed with no care at all. Some items were labelled as faulty while others were clearly damaged.

Electrical items selected at random to be tested by a certified electrician, contracted by the Environment Agency, found over 70% of the contents were broken and should have been recycled as waste in the UK.

Sohail denied dealing in waste and said the company randomly checked items which came in from customers. Quest had no records of carrying out testing.

Roy Howitt of the Environment Agency said: "Mr Sohail pleaded not guilty but was found guilty of four offences, including exporting hazardous waste to Afghanistan.

"It is illegal to export electrical waste from the UK to developing countries."

"The last thing we want is our electrical waste causing harm to people or the environment overseas; and Afghanistan does not have the infrastructure to recycle electrical items safely."

Meanwhile, a further four defendants were yesterday committed to stand trail at Basildon Crown Court in March following the biggest investigation ever carried out by the Environment Agency into the illegal export of electrical waste from　the　UK to developing countries.
The three men - Michael Sirpal Singh Aulakh, of Birmingham, Chika Ezeemo, of London and Krassimir Vengelov, from West Sussex – plus Birmingham-based company Thorn International UK Limited, will join 11 other defendants for their first appearance at Basildon Crown Court on 11 March.

All 15 defendants face charges related to illegally shipping waste under the Transfrontier　Shipment of Waste Regulations　2007 and European　Waste　Shipment Regulations 2006.

The 11 defendants committed in January were Joseph Benson & BJ Electronics Limited, Terence Dugbo, Nnamdi Ezechukwu and Reliance Export Limited, Godwin Ezeemo and Orient Export Limited, Prince Ibeh, Stuart McGuigan, Emmanuel Makete and Adrian Thompson.

Environment Agency National Environmental Crime Team　Manager, Andy Higham, said: "It’s clear from this latest development that the district judge took the same view as we do - that this is a serious and complex case that needs to be heard before a judge and jury.

"Exporting hazardous waste electrical equipment to developing countries is illegal. It avoids the costs of legitimate recycling, undermines law-abiding recycling businesses in this country and risks harm to human health and the environment in the recipient country."