Environmental activist Joseph Darville is outraged over the docking and offloading of a cargo ship allegedly laden with a shipment of wood infested with an invasive beetle that destroys crops.

The “Pan Jasmine” cargo vessel is allegedly docked at Bradford Marine in Freeport. It was initially inspected by US Federal Agents near New Orleans and denied entry after the cargo of wood was discovered infested with a type of Asian beetle that has been destroying trees in the US for about 25 years.

According to reports, the ship was ordered to leave US waters and departed July 21 for Freeport, Bahamas, for disposal.

Some of the shipment has already been offloaded and taken to the landfill in Freeport, according to Mr Darville, who is calling on Bahamian authorities to immediately investigate the matter.

“This is absolutely unbelievable,” Mr Darville lamented in a voice note posted and circulated on social media.

“That stuff, poison sh-- is already on the island. It is stored at Bradford Marine, and in addition to that, the ship fooled the people by saying it is a regular tonnage and did not say anything about it being contaminated. And so, they were receiving it as if it was just stuff that can be discarded.”

Mr Darville, chairman of Save of the Bays, an environmental group, said an official at Sanitation Services has confirmed to him that some of the contaminated shipment is already at the landfill.

He said that the official said the shipment is in one area and has already been sprayed after learning it was contaminated.

“How can something like that happen in a modern city like Freeport? Who allowed them to offload that stuff?” asked Mr Darville.

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