Three individuals were charged this morning in relation to the shocking chemical dump in Johor’s Sungai Kim Kim (Kim Kim River) earlier this month.
The trio comprised of two directors and a lorry driver attached to a used tire processing plant, with a Singaporean among them.
Wang Jin Chao, 34 and from Singapore, along with Malaysian nationals Yap Yoke Liang, 36, and N. Maridass, 35, were charged in connection with illegally dumping toxic chemicals into the Pasir Gudang-area river on March 7th. While only Maridass is accused with the actual act of disposing, the other two men are charged with conspiring with him.
They have all plead not guilty to the charges.
Police are currently seeking another Singapore national for questioning.
Many more suspects have been isolated by Johor police, with the state’s chief Commissioner Mohd Khalil Kader Mohd detailing that the three are among 11 suspects that police are looking into, with factory operators and workers also on the authorities’ radar. Seven individuals who had previously been taken into police custody for questioning have since been released without charge, as of yet.
In early March, after a lorry reportedly dumped the waste in Sungai Kim Kim, hazardous fumes were into a wide-ranging area surrounding Pasir Gudang, an industrial area near the Singapore border. Hundreds alleged they were suffering from the toxic wafts of air, citing nausea and vomiting.
Scores of children bore the brunt of the symptoms, with 160 being admitted to hospital, and the initial figure of 43 schools closed jumping by more than double to 111 shut down until further notice. In total, hundreds had to seek medical treatment.
