KUDAT: Three Vietnamese fishing boats with 16 crewmembers were detained by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) after sneaking into the state waters illegally, yesterday.
It is learnt that the Vietnamese boats were flying the Jalur Gemilang and using local registration number as a disguise when the authority spotted them near Pulau Tigabu at 12.30pm during a special operation.
District MMEA director Lieutenant Commander Maritime Boon Chin Chau, in a statement today, said all boats were immediately detained after being suspected of violating state and federal laws, including having no valid identification documents.
“There’s no record of entry and exit from the Immigration Department. They have also gone beyond the boundaries of the waters and failed to report the change of ‘nakhoda’ (skipper) to the Sabah Ports and Harbour Department.
“Apart from that, there is no harbour clearance from the customs department. MMEA personnel found two of the detained boats bore the same registration number and are suspected to be cloned,” he said.
Boon added that this is the fourth case in Kudat waters that uses similar modus operandi and successfully busted by the agency.
“We suspect there is a syndicate responsible behind this activity. A detailed investigation is being carried out to detect individuals involved in the syndicate. We will not compromise with these people robbing our country’s marine resources,” he said.
The case is being investigated for various offences under the Fisheries Act 1985, Immigration Act 1959/63, Customs Act 1967, Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 and Ports and Harbour Enactment 2012.