PUTRAJAYA, May 28 — The Environment Department (DOE) conducted more than 5,000 inspections nationwide and recorded accumulated fines amounting to RM4.59 million involving environmental pollution cases during the first four months of this year.
Approximately 5,074 inspections were carried out on 4,339 premises subject to the Environmental Quality Act 1974 between January 1 and April 30.
The inspections involved various industrial sectors, including crude palm oil mills, raw natural rubber factories, scheduled waste recovery facilities, sewage treatment plants, and other industries with the potential to pollute the environment.
“Based on the inspections and investigations conducted, the DOE has taken 3,149 follow-up enforcement actions against parties found to be non-compliant with the Environmental Quality Act 1974,” it said in a statement today.
The DOE added that the enforcement actions comprised 1,587 directive notices, 1,369 compounds, 44 equipment operation detention actions, two licence suspension actions, 18 prohibition orders, and 129 investigation papers for prosecution purposes.
“In addition, 148 offences have completed court prosecution proceedings and resulted in convictions with accumulated fines totalling RM4,598,500 as well as a one-day jail sentence,” it said.
During the same period, the DOE also conducted 1,906 enforcement operations on motor vehicle smoke emissions, involving inspections of 137,722 vehicles nationwide, and carried out 811 inspections of projects that had obtained Environmental Impact Assessment approval.
In an effort to curb the illegal entry of scheduled waste into the country, 51 inspection operations were conducted at major ports, involving inspections of 702 containers suspected of carrying scheduled waste.
“Inspection results found that 427 containers contained scheduled waste, including electrical and electronic waste. Following this, 73 directive notices were issued instructing that the containers be sent out of Malaysia,” it said.
To date, 53 containers have been successfully returned to their countries of origin.
Similarly, monitoring of open burning issues was intensified, with 3,237 investigations carried out nationwide during the period, including at 494 hotspots that had been detected and suspected of such activities.
The DOE noted that the use of technology had also been strengthened through 409 drone flights to monitor and surveil environmental pollution more effectively and strategically, as well as to assist investigations and enforcement.
“Throughout the first four months of 2026, the DOE received a total of 6,252 environmental pollution complaints, and every complaint was investigated according to the stipulated customer charter period,” it said.
