Huge Seizure of ODS - WCO initiative
A joint global Customs enforcement operation initiated by the World Customs Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and code-named "Sky-hole Patching II" led to the confiscation of more than 7,500 cylinders of CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons), HCFCs (hydrochlorofluorocarbons) and other ozone depleting substances.
Totalling over 108 tons of ozone depleting substances (ODS) and 668 pieces of equipment containing ODS, each of these man-made chemicals is linked to the rapid depletion of the ozone layer and all have been either banned or subject to strict controls under the terms of the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer.
“Illegal trade in ODS poses a threat to the successful recovery of the protective ozone layer as well as to the climate system, since most of the smuggled chemicals are also powerful greenhouse gases," said Rajendra Shende, Head of UNEP's Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE) OzonAction Branch.
Customs officials at 275 seaports and other selected points intensified their risk profiling and physical controls over several thousand shipments to identify high risk goods, notifying one another of suspicious outgoing and incoming consignments using CENcomm, the WCO's secure communication tool for exchanging information.