Albania stops a ship suspected of harboring massive amounts of toxic waste from docking

TIRANA, Albania -- TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania prevented Monday a vessel suspected of transferring a immense magnitude of hazardous waste from docking astatine Tirana’s main port, officials said, aft a watchdog group alerted authorities.

The Turkish-flagged Moliva XA443A vessel was kept astir a mile distant from nan larboard of Durres, 33 kilometers (20 miles) westbound of nan capital. Prosecutors ordered nan containers to beryllium seized and stored “at an environmentally and physically safe place” to monitor.

The Seattle-based Basel Action Network nongovernmental organization, aliases BAN, which focuses connected biology issues, said it flagged nan vessel to authorities successful August pursuing a whistleblower's statement that its “102 containers” are suspected of carrying “an estimated 2,100 full metric tonnes of ... discarded contamination power select particulate from nan alloy industry.”

BAN said nan “massive shipment” first near Durres connected July 4th, 2024, connected 2 Maersk chartered ships pinch nan “intended destination of Thailand.” The group said it besides alerted respective transit countries and collaborated pinch EARTH, a starring Thai biology organization, and together raised nan siren astir nan shipment

Thailand refused to judge nan shipment, asking authorities successful Singapore to extremity it. The ships past docked astatine a Turkish larboard and nan shipment was loaded connected nan Turkish-flagged ship, which concisely stopped astatine nan Italian larboard of Gioia Tauro earlier going to Albania, BAN said.

The customs archiving stated nan containers harbored robust oxide, according to section reports.

Albanian guidance accused nan authorities successful August of taking portion successful illegally trafficking hazardous material. Prime Minister Edi Rama said successful Parliament successful September that nan shipment's documents were verified and that robust oxide is "not considered arsenic toxic discarded successful nan European catalogs connected which nan biology and customs process of our state is based.”

Jim Puckett, BAN’s head, was successful Durres erstwhile nan vessel arrived and called connected authorities to person a nationalist opening and sampling of nan containers to guarantee transparency. The group besides wants to analyse nan samples successful "different labs successful parallel.”

He told reporters they suspected nan toxic alloy furnace particulate was collected from contamination power filters from an Albanian institution and besides illegally smuggled from Kosovo and Germany.

“It is up to nan Albanian authorities to find a solution for their elimination,” Puckett said.

Puckett told The Associated Press that authorities officials said nan prosecutor’s agency successful Durres has taken power of nan vessel astatine nan anchorage and that he tin liaise pinch them to get nan needed samples.

“We very overmuch dream nan wastes will beryllium decently sampled and analyzed pinch 3rd parties ... truthful that nan nationalist tin spot successful nan result,” a BAN connection said.

Albania is looking to merge into nan European Union and nan authorities has been keen connected aligning its hazardous discarded argumentation pinch that of nan 27-nation bloc, banning "the export of hazardous wastes, family wastes, physics wastes and integrative wastes to processing countries."

There has been nary contiguous remark from nan Ministry of Tourism and Environment.