It costs just $2.50 to dump a tonne of toxic waste off the coast of Somalia. It’s the world’s cheapest rubbish dump and a nice little earner for certain westerners, who would have to pay $1,000 to dump their trash back home. But hundreds of Somalis are falling ill, poisoned by other peoples’ waste. Barrels of nuclear waste frequently wash up on the shores of Puntland and the beaches are often strewn with dead fish.
Who is dumping this waste in Somali waters? Who in Somalia is making money from it? Two Italian journalists have already lost their lives for asking such questions. We re-open the inquiry. It’s an investigation that leads us into the shady underworlds of the Italian mafia, Somali pirates and the lethal nuclear waste industry.