Legal action will be taken against the importers of a shipment of potentially toxic computer scrap which arrived from Australia, the Environmental Protection Department said yesterday. Department director Robert Law said it would seek to prosecute anyone involved in the illegal cargo. 'We have inspected this shipment and there is very definitely material in it which is not permitted to be shipped. 'We will be prosecuting all of the parties that are culpable and we will make sure that the shipment is taken back to Australia,' he said. Yesterday's cargo inspection by Customs and Environmental Protection Department officials came after Greenpeace activists warned of the cargo's contents after a pre-dawn raid on the freighter Zim Sydney on Monday at Kwai Chung Container Terminal. The manifest is understood to have been false. The cargo was claimed to be mixed metal scrap. But used computer parts such as circuit boards and cables found inside the cargo yesterday are likely to contain lead, mercury and the carcinogen cadmium. Under new provisions of the Waste Disposal Ordinance, importers are required to obtain import permits from the Environmental Protection Department when shipments contained toxic materials. Each of the three cargoes weighed more than 22,000 kilograms. The department declined to name the importer and other parties involved. But Lee-Lin Enterprise and Bright Metal Company (HK) are named in the Customs manifest. Neither company could be reached for comment last night. Greenpeace claimed victory yesterday and accused Australian company HiTechnology Metal Recyclers of being the scrap exporter. Campaigner Simon McRae said videotapes were made of the company's staff transferring the shipment from its scrapyard to a port in Sydney en route to Hong Kong earlier this month. But company manager Guy Chanary in Sydney denied responsibility, claiming that the entire shipment had been sold to an unnamed third party in August. 'I don't know why Greenpeace is targeting us. We have nothing to do with the shipment,' he said. Eleven companies have been fined between $5,000 and $90,000 since the new toxic waste provisions came into effect in September last year.
