KUALA LUMPUR: Police are investigating the possibility that 47 illegally operating electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) factories raided in operations nationwide recently are linked to each other.
Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department (KDNKA) director Datuk Seri Azmi Abu Kassim said the investigation is now focusing on the companies that operate the factories.
“So far, we have not been able to conclude if these factories are operating as a syndicate but further investigation is ongoing,” he said when contacted here today.
Commenting further, Azmi said most of the factories raided received supplies of electronic waste smuggled in via sea, and one of the factories raided in Sarawak obtained electronic waste from a local supplier who collected electronic waste from the public.
Azmi also stressed that collaboration between various enforcement agencies is vital to combat these illegal factories and that police and the Department of Environment (DOE) are ready to cooperate with other agencies.
In Op Hazard, which was carried out nationwide on Feb 15, the DOE inspected 47 factories and found 30 operating illegally; seven were selling second-hand goods; six were licensed under DOE; three licensed under local authorities; and one illegal warehouse.