POLICE have ruled out sabotage in the recent pollution of Sungai Selangor, which caused the shutdown of treatment plants and water supply disruption to more than a million households in the Klang Valley two weekends ago.

Inspector-General of Police Abdul Hamid Bador today said negligence was the more likely reason behind the diesel spill into the river.

“I can rule out sabotage. We believe that employees from companies hired by the Selangor state government had polluted the river out of negligence,” Hamid told reporters at an event in Kuala Lumpur today.

Two men had been arrested over the case, and one has had his remand extended for a day, Hamid said.

The other man has been released.

“We believe that the investigation into this case will be completed soon. In a matter of days,” he said.

The two men who were arrested in Kuala Selangor had been working on a pontoon linked to a mining company.

The company, Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB) which is owned by the Selangor government, on July 22 said had detected diesel spillage as the source of pollution.

It did not say whether the spill occurred in an area where its mining activities are conducted, but said it “regrets” the incident.

The National Water Services Commission (Span) had also lodged a police report over the diesel spill and an earlier pollution incident, which had also caused water treatment plants to shut down.

Talk was rife at the time about sabotage involved, with Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar tweeting that police had told him elements of sabotage had been found. – July 29, 2019.