By Aida Aziz
Photo:APMM
LUMUT: The Perak State Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM) detained two local class A and B fishing boats at a position about one nautical mile southwest of the Sungai Burung estuary, yesterday.
Its director, Maritime Captain Mohd Hambali Ya’akup, said the arrest was made by a patrol boat that was carrying out Op Pintas, Op Tiris and Op Khas Pagar Laut patrols.
“The results of the initial inspection found that the first boat, which is a class B boat operated by two crew including an Indonesian skipper aged 22 and 45, used two foreign crew without the permission of the Director General of Fisheries and did not have valid identification documents.
“While the second boat, a class A boat operated by a 69-year-old local skipper, is suspected of committing an offense under Section 8 (b) of the Fisheries Act 1985 for having modified a drift trawler into a trawler,” he said in a statement last night.
He said, the skipper and the first boat crew were suspected of committing an offense under Section 8 (b) of the Fisheries Act 1985, which was to violate the valid conditions of the license and the Immigration Act 1959/63.
He added that all the crew and the boat as well as the spoils were detained for further investigation.
For any information and complaints about law violations at sea, the public can contact the Perak State Maritime Operations Center at 05-6838737 or MERS 999 for immediate response.
