Two companies caught polluting

TANGERANG: A joint team comprising the Tangerang municipal environmental agency officials and the local police caught red- handed two industrial firms while they were tossing their raw waste into the Sabi river in Cibodas district.

The officials found the textile companies, PT Indotaichen and PT Pelangi Prima Dirgantara Dyeing Industry, dumping the waste into the river as they staked out the site from Wednesday night to early Thursday at 4 a.m.

After finding main pipes from the two firms funneling waste into the river during the night, the team took some of the waste as a sample to be tested in a laboratory for further examination.

"If the waste is proven dangerous, we will take stern measures in accordance with existing laws that stipulate that company owners can be taken to court," the agency chief M. Akip, who led the team, said.

Water in the Sabi river is black, oily and smelly, apparently because of the industrial pollution.--JP