MMEA Miri detains Vietnamese vessel for encroachment near Tanjung Baram

MIRI (Oct 13): The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) on Friday detained a Vietnamese vessel and five crew members, including the skipper, for allegedly encroaching into Malaysian waters.

MMEA Miri deputy director (Operations) Left Commander (Maritime) Muhd Firdaus Saniman said the vessel was detected during a routine patrol at 174 nautical miles northwest of Tanjung Baram.

“Initially, the vessel did not cooperate with the patrol team when asked to surrender and instead, tried to run away. However, the patrol team used force boarding to stop them from escaping,” he said in a press conference at the MMEA Miri headquarters at Pulau Melayu today.

Inspection later found it was a Vietnamese vessel manned by a skipper and four crew members aged between 35 and 55, and all five of them failed to produce valid documents related to the vessel or permission to enter Malaysian waters.

Muhd Firdaus said they were subsequently apprehended while the vessel and 5,000 litres of diesel estimated to be worth RM1.5 million were confiscated.

The suspects and vessel were escorted to the Miri vessel detention centre for further investigation under the Fisheries Act 1985.

To a question, Muhd Firdaus said this was the seventh time since Jan 1 to Oct that MMEA Miri has detained foreign vessels for encroaching. Of the seven cases, five were Vietnamese vessels while two were Indonesian.