Executives placed under arrest for modifying emissions data

The Beijing police detained eight employees from a company dealing with the disposal of hazardous waste and placed them under criminal detention, marking Beijing's first prosecution of a company modifying automated data to conceal environmental pollution.

Based on a tip-off from the local environmental department, the Beijing public security bureau was informed there were extensive modifications in the sulfur dioxide emissions data at the company.

The police formed a special team and launched an investigation with the support of local environmental departments.

It was found the company disposes of around 40,000 metric tons of hazardous waste annually, with a maximum daily disposal capacity of 140 tons.

The company is classified as a key polluting company in Beijing. As air pollutants such as sulfur dioxide are emitted during the incineration process, three sets of automatic monitoring facilities for air pollutants were installed at the company to ensure compliance with emission standards.

These facilities provide real-time data transmission to environmental departments.

According to the police, despite being aware of the overloading of the disposal facilities and the excessive emissions of sulfur dioxide, a senior executive surnamed Li and others in the company instructed employees to access the backend of the online monitoring system and tamper with the sulfur dioxide emission data, which may constitute the crime of environmental pollution.

The police immediately collected evidence, including the backend data of the monitoring equipment, surveillance videos and shift records of the company, and arrested Li and seven others.

The case is under further investigation.