In one of the cases, the authority seized 119 pieces of vacuum cleaners, electric irons, stereo systems and other used electric appliances from a hidden cache under the hawsepipe of a small vessel at the mouth of the Zhujiang River.

Customs officials said the issue of trash smuggling has been inflicting on them for years. In response, they have heightened supervision at port site and resolutely had all intercepted wastes returned to overseas.

In 2001, the Guangzhou customs intercepted 2,326 worn tyres, 8,414 pieces of old domestic electric appliances, 339 waste computers, and 84 used cars.

Analysts said that it's hard to completely wipe out the smuggling of used electronic appliances while there is a demand for them in impoverished areas.

For example, smuggled electronic wastes are mainly sold to Qingyuan, Shaoguan, Zhaoqing and other mountainous areas within Guangdong, and neighboring Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and other relatively backward Chinese regions.

Experts warned that using dumped electrical appliances can be very dangerous to consumers. They consume more power, may be very noisy, and could even cause fire.

In another development, about 466 tons of smuggled household garbage left east China's Taizhou Port Tuesday for Japan where they were from.

The garbage was found underneath 1,200 tons of waste metals by local customs officials in mid-February on aboard a foreign vessel.

Criminal investigation into the most serious case of trash smuggling in the history of the port is still going on at the press time.

(People's Daily February 28, 2002)