KUANTAN: The Royal Malaysian Navy's Naval Region Command 1 here has foiled an attempt by a group of foreign fishermen to loot scrap metal parts from British World War II warships about 45 nautical miles off Pulau Tioman on Sunday.
KD Pahang commanding officer Commander Nikmat Azhar Mahmud said 12 foreigners were detained and two trawlers were seized.
He said sailors from KD Pahang patrol vessel spotted the first trawler at about 1.30pm before further checks led them to find scrap metal parts believed from the sunken warships on the vessel.
"Only a Thai national was on board and he failed to convince our personnel that he was at sea carrying out fishing activities. We later discovered pieces of metal and copper in the trawler.
"Minutes later, our personnel spotted a second trawler and were forced to fire warning shots before arresting 11 Vietnamese crewmen. The boats’ crew did not have valid identification documents," he said, adding the foreigners were believed to be targeting two sunken war ships, the HMS Repulse and HMS Prince Of Wales.
The foreigners were brought to the Tanjung Gelang naval base to be handed over to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency for further action.
The two British warships sunk during World War II on December 10, 1941.