Illegal factory owner to be charged over chemical dumping incident

JOHOR BARU: An illegal factory owner involved in recycling tyres in Kulai is expected to be charged on Thursday (March 14) in connection with the dumping of toxic waste into Sg Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang, says Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin.

“The owner faces a maximum imprisonment of five years and a fine of RM500,000,” she added.

Meanwhile, she said the Department of Environment would be installing gas detection monitors around Pasir Gudang to check on the air quality in the area.

She said that this was important to detect the toxic pollutants at different altitudes and also other possible unknown chemical compounds.

Asked if the worse was over, she said she was more worried about the unknown chemicals.

“We have identified at least eight of the chemicals based on our sampling. There are still unknown chemicals,” she said, adding that DOE would be carrying out checks on 252 chemical factories after this crisis was over.

She added the important thing now was to carry out clean-up operation of the polluted river.

Source: The Star