KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained eight Vietnamese crew members onboard a fishing boat near Pulau Gaya last night.
The vessel, suspected to be fishing illegally in the area, was intercepted about half a mile from Tanjung Logong at 8.20pm during Op Sejahtera rounds.
“The crew are aged between 20 to 35. Upon checking, the team found that all their work permits had expired since end of last year.
“Further checks showed that the boat's licence too had expired. The team then seized various types of fresh fish weighing about 200kg, and dried fish of about 50kg on the boat,” MMEA Kota Kinabalu director First Admiral Adam Aziz said in a statement.
“The boat was also found to be using illegal fishing equipments thus violating the licencing conditions.
“The boat and the fishermen were brought to maritime’s Sepanggar jetty for further investigations and are liable for compound.” he added.