Big haul: GOF officers seized jumbo bags of e-waste material during Ops Hazard. — Picture courtesy of GOF Northern Brigade
BUKIT MERTAJAM: Authorities have seized a staggering 454 tonnes of e-waste, such as smartphone parts, laptops and printed circuit boards, in a massive crackdown at Bukit Tambun here.
General Operations Force (GOF) Northern Brigade commander Senior Asst Comm Shahrum Hashim said five foreign workers and a Malaysian, aged between 22 and 55, were arrested in the operation dubbed Ops Hazard yesterday.
SAC Shahrum said the e-waste was found in hundreds of large bags at a factory between 9am and 6pm.
“Inspection at the factory found 250 bags of e-waste weighing about 250 tonnes and 300 bags of dismantled electronic parts weighing around 150 tonnes.
“There were another 30 large bags of processed e-waste weighing about 24 tonnes and piles of about 10 tonnes of e-waste scrap,” he said.
SAC Shahrum said a trailer was also discovered filled with about 20 tonnes of e-waste scrap.
Also uncovered were five forklifts, a waste filtration machine, 10 waste washing machines, an extruder machine and a compressor. He said a total of RM6,147 in cash was also seized.
SAC Shahrum said the total seizure, including the e-waste, was worth RM22mil.
He disclosed that an intelligence unit from GOF detected the illegal activity three weeks ago before the integrated operation was conducted with the state Environment Department and Central Seberang Perai police.
He said it is believed that the e-waste was from abroad and brought in via sea routes.
On the arrest, SAC Shahrum said the workers, two from China and three from Myanmar, are believed to have been hired illegally.
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.
