Nigeria has ordered an investigation into the disappearance of a ship which was detained in Lagos for allegedly carrying toxic waste.
Officials said the UK-registered ship, the Grand America, off-loaded seven containers suspected of holding electronic waste before leaving between Sunday and Monday.
Africa has become a popular destination for the illegal dumping of toxic e-waste from the developed world.
Ngeri Benebo,Director General of Nigeria's Environmental Standards Enforcement Agency, said the Grand America had arrived at Lagos via Antwerp in Belgium.
She said the other ship, the MV Veradin, was originally from New York and had arrived via Spain.
The disappearance of the ship raises questions of security lapses at Nigeria's sea ports and the possibility of complicity by security and port authorities.
It is not the first time that toxic waste has been dumped in Nigeria.
In 1987 more than 3,500 tonnes of toxic waste was dumped at Koko, a town in the southern Delta State.
The Basel Action Network, a pressure group that monitors the trade in hazardous waste, recently published a report which claimed that about 500 containers with 400,000 second-hand computers were unloaded every month in Lagos ports.
The dumping of millions of obsolete computers in Africa remains a problem, our correspondent says.
Greenpeace also says Nigeria is a popular destination for toxic waste.
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