LABUAN: The Marine police arrested five Vietnamese fishing crew members and seized their trawler worth RM350,000 for illegal fishing near Beting Jahat waters here on Saturday.
Sabah Marine Police (Region 4) chief commander, ACP Mohamad Pajeri Ali said the Vietnamese vessel was intercepted during ‘Op Gelora’ around 11am while they were fishing about 15 nautical miles off Tanjung Kubong north of Labuan.
“We seized the wooden-fibre glass vessel that had a cloned registration number of a local fishing boat from Kudat, Sabah. The crew including their 37-year-old skipper were taken to the Labuan marine jetty for further
investigations,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Those detained were the skipper, Mai Van Qui, and crewmen, Mai Van Nguyen, 41, Ho Chi Linh, 27, Danh Thien, 30 and Dhong Van Dep, 35.
The agency also seized a diesel-powered engine worth RM80,000, a Thuraya satellite
telephone (RM1,500), a sea cucumber iron fork (RM15,000), fishing nets (RM3,000), global positioning system (GPS) equipment and RM1,000 worth of storage containers.
The case is being investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985 and the Immigration Act 1959/63.
– Bernama
