MMEA detains three boats that "have no business to be in Malaysian waters"

CHUKAI: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency on Tuesday detained a Vietnamese fishing boat and its 22 crew members for encroaching into Malaysian waters.

Its Kemaman Maritime Zone director Rashidilhadi Abd Rashid told Bernama here today that the agency also seized their catch and that the value of the total seizure was RM1.5 million.

He said the boat was brought to the agency's Kemaman jetty where the crew members, aged 17 to 54, were screened for COVID-19 before being handed over the MMEA investigating officer for further action.

Meanwhile, in Pasir Puteh, MMEA Kelantan director Maritime Captain Muhd Nur Syam Asmawie Yaacob said MMEA seized 230,000 litres of diesel and two boats valued at RM2.39 million believed to belong to Thais, yesterday, after they were intercepted about 110 nautical miles from the Tok Bali estuary just before noon.

The crew of both boats comprising 14 people including a woman and an Indonesian man, aged 24 to 59, were also held to facilitate investigations, he told reporters in Tok Bali today.

He added that they were masquerading as fishermen but actually were diesel smugglers.

-- BERNAMA