LABUAN: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Labuan has drawn up strategies to curb the anticipated rise in smuggling from the waters off Labuan to Sabah and Sarawak as Christmas
approaches.
MMEA Labuan operations officer Lt (Maritime) Nik Mohd Izwan Farid Md Daud said yesterday the MMEA had identified the smuggling hotspots, among them the waters off Lawas, Sarawak; the oil and gas restricted areas; marine parks and the waters off Menumbok, Sabah.
“We will keep in check the intense and sustained smuggling activity within the waters off Labuan to the mainland of both states,” he told Bernama.
MMEA Labuan has three patrol vessels and five high-powered boats with 133 personnel to enforce the law in the waters off the duty-free island, he said.
Nik Mohd Izwan said MMEA Labuan had initiated collaboration with various enforcement agencies, such as the Marine Department; Royal Customs and Excise Department; Fire and Rescue Service and Department of Civil Defence to undertake effective monitoring and enforcement.
He also said that close cooperation was maintained with local fishermen, who served as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the MMEA, to check smuggling. — Bernama