Four employees of chemical maker Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha Ltd. and its subsidiaries were arrested Monday for allegedly arranging for the disposal of thousands of tons of toxic industrial waste disguised as a commercially safe land-fill product, police said.
The suspects allegedly arranged for the dumping of about 100,000 tons of Feroshilt, a landfill and soil-reinforcement material made from sulfuric acid waste, into reclaimed land in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, over 12 months starting in January 2002, despite knowing it was an industrial waste product that contained such toxins as hexavalent chromium and fluorine.
Those arrested for alleged violation of the waste management law include Takeshi Sato, 69, a former member of Ishihara Sangyo's board of directors and a former deputy head of the company's Yokkaichi plant in Mie Prefecture.