KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — The Department of Environment (DOE) has detained a foreign vessel suspected of dumping waste oil in the country’s waters.
Its director-general Norlin Jaafar in a statement today said that the detention order was issued yesterday under Section 48, Environmental Quality Act, 1974 and the investigation was conducted in accordance with Section 27 of the same law.
“The Selangor DOE investigation team has taken statements and inspected the ship’s documents to complete the investigation paper.
“A total of three samples were collected from the ship and sent to the Department of Chemistry for analysis,” she said.
Norlin also said that the DOE would not hesitate to take firm action and would not compromise against environmental offences.
On Saturday, a cargo ship was reportedly detained by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) on suspicion of dumping waste oil in Selangor waters about 21.7 nautical miles northeast of Pulau Jarak, Lumut, Perak.
— Bernama
