KUALA LUMPUR: About half a billion ringgit worth of e-waste was seized following raids on 57 premises in nine states during Ops Hazard 2.0.
The special operation was conducted on Monday (Jan 16) and involved multiple agencies, led by the police's General Operations Force.
Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order director Comm Datuk Seri Azmi Abu Kassim said the Inland Revenue Board also estimated possible tax evasion involvement amounting to RM500mil.
"We detained 453 individuals aged between 16 and 70 during the operation.
"41 locals were detained while the rest were foreigners from various countries, including Myanmar, Bangladesh, Cambodia and the Philippines," he told a press conference in Bukit Aman on Thursday (June 19).
He said the items seized were RM240mil worth of e-waste byproducts, RM182mil of e-waste components and others worth RM82mil.
"Among the offences detected were conducting an illegal e-waste processing business, employing undocumented migrants, and not having valid business licenses," he added.
Comm Azmi said the latest operation brings the total value of e-waste materials seized since January to RM13.2bil while 1,061 individuals have been detained," he said.
Comm Azmi said Ops Hazard 2.0 was able to increase the pressure on the illegal e-waste industry.
"It consists of total action in detecting offences committed and busting syndicated crimes.
"We detected that the syndicates used proxies to conduct the illegal activities and exploited loopholes in the laws," he said.
A total of 1,582 officers and personnel were involved in Ops Hazard 2.0.
