RM7bil in seizures last year, mostly e-waste, says Saifuddin

The home minister says authorities also uncovered multiple offences, including ammunition handling, misuse of subsidised gas, and immigration violations, during Op Hazard.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said most of the seizures last year were linked to e-waste. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA:

 Enforcement agencies under the home ministry recorded RM7 billion in seizures last year, with the majority linked to e-waste operations, minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.

Saifuddin said the enforcement operation, dubbed Op Hazard, continued last week under the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS), with coordinated nationwide enforcement producing significant results.

The seizures also involved ammunition and illegal processing activities, he added.

“Among them (items seized) were bullets. Then we also raided factories that processed bullet waste, which was produced in the form of tin ingots,” he told a press conference today.

Saifuddin said investigations uncovered multiple offences, including misuse of subsidised gas and immigration violations.

“There were many offences. They heated it (bullet waste) in furnaces using gas. The gas was subsidised. It was processed by foreign workers. We investigated various elements, including immigration offences,” he said.

Saifuddin said environmental authorities were also involved, noting that domestic laws prohibited the importation of solid waste from abroad.

AKPS to establish own intelligence unit

Saifuddin also announced that AKPS would set up its own intelligence and surveillance unit to strengthen operations.

“The role of intelligence, the intelligence division, is important,” he said, noting that intelligence capabilities already existed within other agencies such as the police, armed forces and customs.

“If we do not establish it, we will depend entirely on intelligence or surveillance elements from other agencies. If we have it, we will have the opportunity to form an intelligence and surveillance unit that suits the working culture of AKPS.”

He said the need for such a unit was initially overlooked during AKPS’s formation, but the agency now recognises its importance.

“I give full freedom to the director-general of AKPS to carry out recruitment in line with AKPS’s functions. We will continue to support it because it is important,” he said. - FMT