Illegal salvage operators, who once "cannibalised" sunken wrecks on the seabed off Pulau Tioman near here, appear to have resumed their activities after stopping for almost eight years.
Their targets are the steel, high-grade aluminium and brass fixtures from two British World War 2 shipwrecks resting on the South China Sea bed — battlecruiser HMS Repulse and battleship HMS Prince of Wales — which sank in 1941.
In 2015, several groups of foreign "treasure hunters" used homemade explosives to detonate the heavy steel plates of the ships for easy pickings.
However, enforcement actions and patrols by the navy and Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency brought this to a halt.
Some were even caught red-handed at sea and were produced in court.
Now, the presence of a foreign-registered grab dredger 100km off Kuantan has raised concerns in the diving community.
Professional diver Hazz Zain, who has explored both shipwrecks, said fishermen from Kuantan first spotted the grab dredger last month.
"They went to the site (shipwreck), where there are usually lots of fish.
"They noticed the dredger and tried to approach it, but a fibreglass boat nearby told them not to enter the site.
"Unsure about what was happening, they left.
"Several days ago, I met a boat operator in Kuantan, who told me about the presence of the plundering at sea.
"He also shared pictures taken by his friends (fishermen)," she said.
"When I made quick checks with a technical diver base in the United Kingdom, he confirmed that it was the same dredger spotted in our waters several years ago."
Hazz, who has been in the diving industry for more than 30 years, lodged a report with the Public Complaints Management System on May 16.
"I alerted the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur to the activities and they acknowledged my report.
"I also informed the Army Museum in Port Dickson, hoping for quick action.
"There were no sightings of warship scavengers between 2017 and early this year.
"This could have been due to the presence of the air force, navy, maritime and other agencies patrolling the skies and seas. But the culprits seem to have returned with bigger and more powerful cranes.
"A friend said he noticed videos on social media over the past few days that some of the relics stolen from the warships were taken by a barge to Tanjung Belungkor near Pengerang in Johor."
She said her last dive to the shipwreck site was before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hazz said she was granted an audience with King Charles III during his visit as the Prince of Wales to Penang in 2017 to provide updates about the shipwrecks.
"When we met at the RMAF base, I showed him videos and images of the wrecks. He looked upset and estimated that it was between 60 and 70 per cent salvaged.
"The illegal salvage operators have ruined the wrecks and jeopardised recreational wreck diving activities.
"These days, one can see World War 2 battleships only on television or pictures, but to see it with your own eyes, one has to dive deep into the sea for the majestic view."
It is learnt that the grab dredger had entered the country's waters through Pasir Gudang and would lift metal pieces from the sea bed with hydraulic grabs as no divers were involved.
Prince of Wales, the pride of the British Royal Navy, and Repulse sank on Dec 10, 1941, two days after the Japanese invasion of Malaya.
Sailing without an air escort, the ships were vulnerable to attacks from Japanese bombers and torpedo aircraft.
Some 800 sailors were killed in the attack.
The New Straits Times had ran reports on how shipwrecks in the South China Sea, off the coast of Pahang, were being plundered by illegal salvage operators under the pretext of fishing in 2015.
The National Heritage Department had responded and said it would amend the National Heritage Act to empower authorities to act against people who stole parts from sunken World War 2 ships and extend the protected zone up to 200 nautical miles from the shore under the act.
State police chief Datuk Yahaya Othman said he was told that the authorities had recovered metal parts believed to be from the sunken warships at a jetty in Kota Tinggi on May 19.
He said the case was being handled by the National Heritage Department.