By Aida Aziz
LUMUT: The Perak Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (Maritim Malaysia) arrested a local fishing boat at a position of 3.5 nautical miles northwest of the estuary water Hutan Melintang around 11.15am yesterday.
Its director, Maritime Captain Mohd Hambali Ya’akup, said the arrest was made by a patrol boat that was carrying out Op Pintas and Op Tiris patrols.
“The results of the initial inspection found that the boat operated by two crew members, including an Indonesian skipper, aged 30 and 33, was suspected of engaging in fishing activities without a valid licence.
“The boat involved also used two foreign crew members without the permission of the Director General of Fisheries and did not have valid identification documents,” he said today.
He further explained that the skipper and boat crew member are suspected of committing an offence under Section 8 (b) of the Fisheries Act 1985, which is fishing without a valid licence and the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Therefore, he said, all the crew members and boat as well as the loot were arrested and taken to Kampung Acheh Fishing Jetty 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.
