Sungai Selangor pollution: Director of company, son among eight arrested

KUALA LUMPUR:A company director and his son were among eight arrested by the police on suspicion of being involved in the Sungai Selangor pollution incident on Wednesday.

Selangor Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Fadzil Ahmad said they were arrested at about 11:30 am in Rawang.

He said of the six workers detained, four were foreigners from Nepal, Pakistan and Myanmar.

He said the investigation into them was carried out in accordance with Section 430 of the Penal Code for committing treacherous acts resulting in the interruption of water supply for agricultural, food or beverage purposes to people and animals.

"Based on the preliminary investigation, the police found that the smell detected ended up in the Sungai Gong, Rawang waterway, was suspected to start from a company repairing and selling construction machinery.

"All of them will be taken to Selayang Court to obtain a remand order tomorrow," he said in a statement today.

The odor pollution in the Selangor River has resulted in water supply disruptions to 1.2 million accounts or nearly five million users in the Klang Valley.

Earlier, the Minister of Environment and Water, Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man was reported to have said that the Sungai Selangor Water Treatment Plant (LRA) Phases 1, 2 and 3 and the Rantau Panjang LRA were stopped due to pollution of raw water resources.

According to him, the initial investigation by the authorities found that the solvent was the source of the odor pollution which was the same as the incident in early September.

He explained that some factory areas were identified as the cause of the pollution and did not rule out the possibility that the solvent was disposed of by illegal factories operating around Selangor.

The pollution involved disruption in 1,292 areas in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling, Klang/Shah Alam, Kuala Selangor, Hulu Selangor, Gombak and Kuala Langat that experienced unscheduled water supply disruptions after the four Sungai Selangor LRAs were suspended, following pollution from raw water resources.Edit×