Madrid, May 20, (dpa/GNA) – Police in Spain have broken up an international gang that is alleged to have illegally disposed of plastic waste from Europe on other continents.
The Guardia Civil police unit said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the criminal gang stored at least 41,000 tons of plastic waste from Spain, France and Portugal.
Some of it was kept illegally in Spain, but some was exported to countries such as India, Turkey, Malaysia, Brazil, Morocco, Thailand and the United Kingdom, it said.
Five people have been arrested and 15 others are under investigation, the statement said.
The waste, which is difficult to recycle and harmful to the environment, is said to have been transported, traded and stored across borders without authorization over a period of several years.
In Spain, it was deposited in a number of different locations, including three illegal landfills in the regions of LeĂłn and Valencia.
A total of six searches were carried out in cooperation with the EU police agency Europol and the authorities of the other European countries involved. According to the Guardia Civil, the waste consists mainly of agricultural plastics from France and Portugal.
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