Thread: Mafia sank 30 ships full of nuclear, toxic wastes

Mafia sank 30 ships full of nuclear, toxic wastes

Italian authorities are investigating an informat's claim that the Mafia deliberately sank nearly 30 ships containing nuclear and other toxic wastes, the BBC reports.

A ship has been found about 18 miles off Calabria, in southwestern Italy. A robot camera shows the vessel lying besides yellow barrels marked "toxic." The informant said the ship was one of three he personally scuttled for the Mafia to bypass waste-disposal laws.

Samples are being tested for radioactivity.

The BBC has underwater video.

Posted by Michael Winter at 06:58 PM/ET, September 15, 2009 in Crime, Europe

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/20 ... astes.html

[Italian] Mafia 'sank nuclear waste ship'


16 September 2009
Source: Reuters/BBC/DW/SBS
World News Australia


Italian authorities have found the wreck of a ship allegedly sunk by the mafia with 180 barrels of toxic waste on board, one of more than 30 such vessels believed to lie off Italy's southern coast, officials said.



If tests show that there is nuclear material on the seabed it will prove that the mafia has moved into its dirtiest business yet. (File photo: Getty Images)

The 110-meter vessel was found Saturday around 500 meters below sea level and 37 kilometers off the coast of Calabria.

Investigators used a remote-controlled submersible to film the wreck.

The prosecutor said the footage showed that the barrels had been sealed in a way that showed they could contain toxic materials.

The images also revealed that at least one barrel had fallen from the damaged hull and lay empty on the seabed.

"There could be problems of toxins and heavy metals ... this is an issue for the whole international community," said Silvestro Greco, head of Calabria's environment agency.

The ship's location was revealed by Francesco Fonti, an ex-member of Calabria's feared 'Ndrangheta crime group, who confessed to using explosives to sink this vessel and two others.

The informant said the mafia had muscled in on the lucrative business of nuclear waste disposal.

But he said that instead of getting rid of the material safely, he blew up the vessel out at sea, off the Calabrian coast, the BBc reports.

He also says he was responsible for sinking two other ships containing toxic waste. Experts are now examining samples taken from the wreck.

Other vessels

Mr Greco said investigators believed there were 32 ships carrying toxic waste sunk by the mafia since the introduction of tighter environmental legislation in the 1980s made illegal waste disposal a lucrative business for crime groups.

"The Mediterranean is 0.7 percent of the world's seas. If in this tiny portion there are more than 30 (toxic waste) shipwrecks, imagine what there could be elsewhere," he said.

For years there have been rumours that the mafia was sinking ships with nuclear and other waste on board, as part of a money-making racket.

If tests show that there is nuclear material on the seabed it will prove that the mafia has moved into its dirtiest business yet.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1092 ... aste-ship'