STRASBOURG, July 15 (Reuter) - Attempts were made to export British beef to five non European Union countries in defiance of a worldwide ban, European Commissioner Emma Bonino said on Tuesday. Bonino told Reuters the Commission had identified Bosnia-Herzegovina, Poland, Equatorial Guinea, Egypt and Russia as possible destinations for 1,650 tonnes of British meat exported illegally with Belgian help via the Netherlands, Germany and possibly France. "I cannot exclude there will be more (illegal exports)," the Italian commissioner said, adding that inquiries were continuing. Bonino said the Commission was considering infringement proceedings against Britain and Belgium for failing to impose adequate import-export controls. She said she expected London and Brussels to reply to the Commission allegations soon, welcoming moves by the two capitals to shut the two British and two Belgian meat plants suspected of breaking the ban on exports of British beef imposed at the height of the mad cow disease crisis. The ban

was imposed in March 1996 after the British government admitted there could be a link between the mad cow disease Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and its deadly human equivalent, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD). British Agriculture Minister Jack Cunningham is due to give details of the affair to the European Parliament's special committee on BSE late on Tuesday.