The illegal fishing boat from Vietnam bears a striking resemblance to local boats, the MMEA said.
MIRI: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has seized six tonnes of fish worth RM500,000 and arrested 16 Vietnamese crew members for fishing illegally in Miri waters here on Tuesday (May 28).
In a statement today, MMEA Miri commander Captain Mohd Fauzi Othman said an MMEA patrol boat detected a fishing boat some 41 nautical miles off the mouth of the Miri River following complaints from local fishermen on the presence of illegal fishermen in the area.
“The fishing boat looks very similar to the local boats, but when the patrol team arrived to take a closer look, it turned out to be boat from Vietnam,” he said.
Upon closer inspection, the patrol team found 16 Vietnamese crew members in the boat aged between 16 and 46, without proper documentation.
“The patrol team seized a total of 6,000 kilogrammes of fish worth RM500,000 and arrested all 16 crew members.
The illegal fishermen were then handed over to the MMEA to be investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985 and Immigration Act 1959/1963,” said Mohd Fauzi.