KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — The police have seized RM418,240,442.50 worth of illegal items between January 1 and September 14, uncovering smuggling activities of non-taxed items, leakages of controlled items, animal smuggling, and illegal electronic waste.

Bukit Aman’s acting director of Department of Internal Security and Public Order Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat said that 383 individuals had been arrested from 134 raids conducted nationwide since the beginning of the year.

Last Thursday, a total of RM41,588,501 alone came from a mass raid at six illegal electronic waste processing facilities in Klang, Selangor.

“The factories that were unregistered and operated without a license profited millions of ringgit, and employed foreigners as workers,” Mohd Yusoff said in a statement today.

Six Malaysians were arrested under suspicion of running the operations at the facilities, along with 43 migrant workers.

The police said the electronic waste was to be recycled and processed to produce valuable metals such as copper, iron and tin.

Some of the items confiscated were 2,800kg of stainless steel, 83,700kg of aluminium, 6,000kg of iron, 10,500kg of CPU boxes, 3,000kg of batteries, 37,000kg of copper, 30,000kg of plastic, and 103,000kg of processed cables.

Mohd Yusoff cautioned that processing illegal waste can also cause serious health complications to those exposed to such waste, including the public.

The investigations were conducted under several regulations, including the Trade, Business, and Industrial Licensing By-Laws (Klang Municipal Council) 2007; the Advertisement By-Laws (Klang Municipal Council) 2007; Section 46(1)(D) of the Street, Drainage, and Building Act 1974; Section 6(1)© and Section 55B of the Immigration Act 1959/63; Regulation 39B of the Immigration Regulations 1963; and Sections 18, 25, 34A, and 34B of the Environmental Quality Act 1974.

The police also uncovered a storage location for illegal products of wild animals on September 10 at Taman Gasing Indah in the nation’s capital.

During the raid, among the items seized were a pig-nosed tortoise, two suspected carved elephant tusks, an air rifle, and two air pistols.