KLANG: The Marine Police Region 1 seized 1.23 million kg of electronic waste (e-waste) worth RM33.18mil during a raid on a scrap processing factory in Taman Perindustrian Meru here.
Its commander Asst Comm Rusley Chi Ari said the raid, conducted under Ops Bersepadu in collaboration with the Selangor Environment Department (DOE) at around 11am on Thursday, led to the arrest of a 30-year-old man.
He said initial investigations found that the factory had a valid licence to only operate as a scrap processing facility, and not for e-waste processing.
An inspection of the premises uncovered waste materials classified as Scheduled Waste.
“A local man, aged 30, working at the factory, was detained, while efforts are ongoing to locate the premises owner, believed to be a local,” ACP Rusley told reporters at the Marine Police Region 1 headquarters in Pulau Indah here yesterday, Bernama reported.
He said the seized items included 16,100kg of copper, processed aluminium (207,900kg), unprocessed aluminium (112,000kg), mixed aluminium (7,000kg), unprocessed mixed e-waste (23,100kg), mixed e-waste residue (787,500kg) and compressed aluminium (81,000kg).
Also confiscated were three forklifts, two weighing machines, a lorry, an e-waste machine, a dewatering machine and three conveyor machines.
He said all seized items had been handed over to the Selangor DOE. “Investigations show that the processed e-waste was sourced from abroad, with the factory operating under the guise of a scrap processing business,” he added.
Last month, four individuals, including a woman, were detained in connection with the seizure of 50 tonnes of bullets and casings at an e-waste factory in Telok Panglima Garang.
The raid was part of the special operation codenamed Ops Hazard.
Since January 2023, the Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department revealed that RM3.8bil in items and materials were seized after raids on illegal e-waste factories nationwide.
Among items seized were RM3.4bil worth of e-waste materials as well as vehicles worth RM116mil, and equipment worth RM217mil.
Some 538 individuals were detained between Jan 1 last year and February this year.
