The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 24 July 2019 *** 15
Human remains hidden in recycling shipments
By James Rothwell, Bill Gardner
and Qadijah Irshad in Colombo
THE Government has launched an in-
vestigation after Sri Lankan authorities
said they would send back more than a
hundred shipping containers which ap-
peared to contain human remains dis-
guised as recyclable metals. Officials at
the port of Colombo made the grisly dis-
covery while investigating a strong
smell emanating from 111 containers
which have been arriving at the docks
over the past two years.
Inside the crates, customs officials
found the “extremely hazardous”
materials mixed in with mattresses,
plastics and clinical waste.
Defra was last night investigating
reports that human organs and body
parts were inside the container, but said
it was yet to be approached by the Sri
Lankan authorities.
“We are committed to tackling illegal
waste exports, which is why individualsfound to be exporting incorrectly de-
scribed waste can face a two-year jail
term or an unlimited fine,” a spokesman
said.
“We are yet to receive a formal re-
quest from the Sri Lankan authorities,
but Defra has contacted them directly to
find out more information.”
“This is a well-organised racket that
has been going on since 2017,” said an of-
ficial at Sri Lanka’s finance ministry,
adding that they would raise the issue
with the British authorities.
Sri Lanka is the latest country to
clamp down on criminal groups which
export mislabelled waste materials.China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand
have also announced a crackdown on
plastic imports as they attempt to stem
the tide of waste from European coun-
tries which are unable or unwilling to
dispose of it themselves.
Rohan Masakorala, a Sri Lankan busi-
nessman, was identified as the importer
of the containers yesterday but has de-
nied any wrongdoing and insists no hu-
man remains were inside.
British waste disposal experts said
that disguising human remains as recy-
clable metals would be highly lucrative
as it is illegal to export anatomical waste
such as human organs or body parts.Dominic Hogg, chairman of Euno-
mia, a waste and recycling consultancy,
said: “There is a major financial incen-
tive to this, with hazardous material, be-
cause it was likely taken on the basis of
being paid a lot of money to ensure it
was disposed of correctly. You would
potentially double your money if it were
body parts or clinical waste.”
A spokesman for the British Metals
Recycling Association said it “absolutely
condemns” illegal exports of hazardous
waste, which it blamed on rogue traders
and criminals. “Unfortunately, due to a
lack of funding, containers are generally
only opened by port officials if there isintelligence to suggest an illegal
shipment is being attempted. We
believe this results in just one in 1,
containers being searched,” Howard
Bluck, a spokesman, said.
If the presence of British human re-
mains in the containers is confirmed, it
is feared they may have originated from
NHS hospitals which are struggling to
dispose of anatomical waste.
Last year, the Health Service Journal
revealed that Healthcare Environment
Services, a private contractor, had
stockpiled human waste from 50 NHS
trusts, including amputated limbs, hu-
man organs and infectious liquid.Scrap Bonn as second city to
curb emissions, urge MPs
By Jörg Luyken
SENIOR politicians are calling for Bonn
to be abolished as Germany’s second
city to limit the environmental damage
caused by frequent travelling between
the two seats of power.
They issued their appeal amid an in-
tensifying debate over the ethics of
short-haul flights, with the Green party
promoting ambitious plans to end do-
mestic aviation by 2035.
Civil servants and ministers are esti-
mated to fly between Bonn and Berlin
230,000 times a year. An agreement
ratified in the mid-Nineties cemented a
permanent presence for all govern-
ment ministries in the former capital of
West Germany.
Six of the 14 ministries still have their
head office in the city on the Rhine,
which lies 350 miles south-west of Ber-
lin. Dietmar Bartsch, parliamentary
leader for the Left Party, which has
provided the momentum for curbs to
unnecessary travel, said: “We support
moving the government to Berlin for
financial, environmental and social
reasons.”
Eckhardt Rehberg, spokesman for
the Christian Democrats, cautiously
backed the proposal, saying that “the
30th anniversary of unification [Oct 3
2020] would be a good occasion to start
such an initiative”.
In the wider debate on aviation’s im-
pact on the climate, Germany’s Green
party announced yesterday it wished
to introduce the European Union’s first
tax on jet fuel while also investing huge
sums in the rail network to end domes-
tic flying by 2035.Cod off the menu as EU bans
fishing to replenish stocks
By Our Foreign StaffTHE European Union announced an
immediate ban yesterday on fishing for
cod, the staple of Britain’s fish and
chips, in most of the Baltic Sea in re-
sponse to an impending stock collapse.
Alerted by scientists, the European
Commission, which oversees the man-
agement of fish stocks in European wa-
ters, warned of “a rapid decline” in cod
stock if no action is taken.
“We must act urgently to rebuild the
stock, both in the interests of fish
stocks and fishermen,” Karmenu Vella,
the European fisheries commissioner,
said in a statement.
The ban will last until Dec 31, the EU
said.
The commission acknowledged
overfishing was not the only factorthreatening Baltic cod, and warned of
environmental factors “including a
lack of salinity, too high water temper-
atures and too little oxygen, as well as
parasite infestation”.
Europeche, which represents the in-
terests of the EU fishing industry, criti-
cised the ban, arguing for a reduction
in quotas instead “which would have
taken into account both the survival of
the species and the fishing fleet”.
The total allowable catch for eastern
Baltic cod, or fishing quota, has been
reduced each year since 2014 to about
24,000 tons in 2019.
Still, the Commission warned that
“fishermen have only used between 40
and 60 per cent of these quotas
in recent years ... probably because
of the insufficient quantity of fish of
commercial size”.South Korea fires warning
shots at Russian bombers
By Alec Luhn in MoscowSOUTH KOREA has said its aircraft
fired hundreds of warning shots at a
Russian military plane for violating its
airspace in a showdown that also in-
volved Chinese and Japanese aircraft.
Moscow has denied that shots were
fired or that its planes were in Seoul’s
airspace. This is the first time Russian
military has been accused of encroach-
ing upon Korea’s territory, raising new
tensions in an area better known for
standoffs with North Korea and China.
The incident, involving Russian and
Chinese planes which were on their
first ever joint patrol, took place over
the disputed Dokdo islands, also
known as Liancourt Rocks, in the Sea
of Japan yesterday morning. The South
Korean defence ministry said a RussianA-50 control and observation plane,
two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two
Chinese H-6 bombers entered the Ko-
rean air defence identification zone.
The A-50 allegedly continued on to
violate South Korean airspace. Inter-
cepting F-15 and F-16 fighter jets fired
10 flares and 80 machine gun rounds,
the defence ministry said. The Russian
plane left the area but soon returned,
whereupon the Korean jets fired
another 10 flares and 280 rounds.
Seoul lodged an objection with
Russia and warned that it “will take
even stronger action” if the situation is
repeated. Moscow said its bombers had
flown over “neutral waters,” as it
doesn’t recognise the Korean air
defence identification zone, and
claimed Korean F-16s cut them off in
“unprofessional manoeuvres”.Sri Lanka to return more
than 100 containers of
scrap metal contaminated
with biological waste
Balanced view British slackliner Sarah Rixham, 28, makes her way across a 65ft highwire with a backdrop of fireworks at the Zurich Festival in Switzerland, which is held every three years.
This image of Sarah, a previous holder of the world record for the longest female highline – 400ft at 6,568ft above sea level – was captured by professional slackline photographer Aidan Williams.AIDAN WILLIAMS/SOLENT NEWSWorld news
India denies Modi
asked for Trump’s
help over Kashmir
By Rahul Bedi in New DelhiINDIA has strongly denied that
Narendra Modi, the prime minister,
invited Donald Trump to mediate in
the long-standing conflict with
Pakistan over Kashmir.
“I’d like to assure the house that no
such request was made by the PM to
the US president,” India’s foreign
minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
told the Indian parliament yesterday,
barely audible over the massive uproar
by opposition members who have been
incensed by the issue.
He reiterated India’s decades-old
stance that the Kashmir conflict could
only be resolved bilaterally with
Pakistan and no third party
involvement was acceptable.
Kashmir is divided between nuclear-
armed India and Pakistan, but claimed
in its entirety by both.Goose bumped A pizza delivery man got a shock when
he found a live goose stuck in his car grille in Burlington,
Vermont, this week. The bird is expected to recover.APРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS