JOHOR BARU: Four ships were detained in the eastern waters of the state yesterday, with two booked for the illegal transfer of fuel.
The Johor Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in making the announcement said the captains and the vessels were brought to Tanjung Sedili Besar for further investigation.
A sum of 7,000 metric tonnes of fuel valued at RM24.5 million was also seized from the first two vessels detained for the illegal transfer of fuel.
One of the vessels were registered in Penang while the other three were registered in Panama, Douglas, Australia and Zanzibar in Tanzania.
Johor MMEA director First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria said patrolling officers detained the vessels registered in Penang and Panama yesterday between 10.50am and 11.30am.
"The tankers were detained on suspicion of illegally transferring oil 32 nautical miles east of Tanjung Sedili Besar.
"The vessel registered in Penang was manned by 10 crew members including Malaysians, Indonesians and Myanmar nationals, whereas the ship from Panama that was also booked for illegally anchoring in state waters was manned by an 18 member crew consisting of Indians and Pakistanis.
"All of them were between the ages of 25 and 59 and had valid identification documents," he said at a press conference at the agency's headquarters here today.
These two ships are being investigated under the Section 491B(1)(K) of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 for illegal transfer of fuel.
Meanwhile a merchant vessel was detained at 11.9 nautical miles east of Tanjung Siang at 11.40am for illegally anchoring itself in state waters.
The vessel registered in Douglas, Australia, was manned by 22 Filipino nationals aged between 25 and 67.
The last ship to be detained yesterday involved a tanker that was 12 nautical miles east of Tanjung Balau.
The vessel was detained at 4.15pm for illegally anchoring in state waters. The tank registered in Zanzibar was operated by five Indonesian crew members aged between 26 and 60.
The two vessels are being investigated under the section 491B(1)(L) of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 for illegal anchoring.
For 2021 under their illegal anchoring ops the state MMEA made 98 busts involving compounds worth RM2,981,000.
For 2022 the agency made 74 busts involving compounds worth RM1,843,000.
