Mandatory sentencing should be imposed on all parties responsible in bringing toxic waste into the country, the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) said following the discovery of a new batch of toxic waste in Johor.

Its president SM Mohamed Idris said in a statement that CAP was "appalled" over the discovery and was very concerned as there could be more toxic waste indiscriminately dumped in the country.

"We urge the Department of Environment to take stringent action against the importer who has not only falsified documents but has placed Malaysians and the environment at great harm and risk.

"Mandatory sentencing should be imposed on all parties who are responsible for bringing in the toxic waste," he said.

Mohamed also took the Royal Customs Department to task, saying that the department should not only rely on documentation per se but also carry out checks to authenticate the consignments.

He called for urgent steps to be taken to ensure that the toxic waste is shipped back to Taiwan and an international monitoring system be put in place to ensure that similar incidences do not occur in the future.

"The Malaysian government must ensure that the Taiwanese authorities prosecute the company that exported its waste to Malaysia. The exporters should take full responsibility for their callous actions," he said.

Same companies

In the latest case, Johor's environment director Tengku Bakry Shah Tengku Johan said the authority was investigating the contents of 223 shipping containers from Taiwan containing industrial waste believed to be toxic.

He also said initial investigations revealed that the companies (exporting and importing) were the same ones involved in the earlier batch of industrial waste.

The latest discovery of 5,500 tonnes over the weekend follow reports last week that nearly 12,000 tonnes of toxic industrial waste from Taiwan were exported illegally to Malaysia.

Taiwan said it was prepared take back the toxic industrial waste exported to Malaysia after the environmental authorities found the import license for the shipment was bogus.

Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration received a tip-off in January that a Taipei-based group had been exporting the toxic waste to its Malaysian partner with a fake Malaysian import license.