BUKIT MERTAJAM: A total of 454,000kg of e-waste has been seized and six individuals including five foreign workers were arrested during Ops Hazard on Monday (Oct 27).
General Operations Force (GOF) Northern Brigade commander Senior Asst Comm Shahrum Hashim said the e-waste was found in hundreds of large bags at a factory in Bukit Tambun during the operation between 9am and 6pm.
“Inspection at the factory found 250 jumbo bags of e-waste weighing about of 250,000kg, 300 jumbo bags of dismantled e-waste weighing about 150,000 kg, 30 jumbo bags of processed e-waste weighing about 24,000kg and 10,000kg dismantled e-waste,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (Oct 28).
SAC Shahrum said on top of the jumbo bags, they found 10 piles of dismantled e-waste weighing about 10,000kg.
He said further checks in the factory found five forklifts, a unit of waste filtration machine, 10 units of waste washing machines, a unit of extruder machine and a unit of compressor machine.
He said a total of RM6,147 in cash was seized during the operation.
As a result of the operation, a total of RM22mil including the equipment and e-waste was successfully seized.
SAC Shahrum said an intelligence unit from GOF had detected the illegal operation three weeks ago.
On the arrest, SAC Shahrum said none had proper documentation.
He said the workers, two from China and three from Myanmar, are believed to have been hired illegally.
He said another suspect arrested is a Malaysian citizen.
All of the suspects, aged between 22 and 55, have been handed over to police.
“The seized items were handed over to the Penang Department of Environment for further investigation,” he added.
The case is being investigated under Section 18(1A) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974, which provides for a penalty of a fine of not less than RM25,000 and not more than RM100,000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or both, upon conviction.
