BINTULU: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Bintulu Maritime Zone has detained a local fishing vessel found to be employing foreign workers without a valid permit.
MMEA Bintulu director Maritime Captain Mohd Khairol Anuar Saad said the suspicious vessel was intercepted at a distance of about 2.5 nautical miles from Tanjung Kidurong here around 3pm last Wednesday (May 4).
He said the operators of the fishing vessel are required to have a valid permit issued by the Fisheries Department to employ foreign workers.
“The results of inspection and search found that three crew members, including the skipper, had valid identity documents but all of them failed to submit a permit to work on the boat.
“No cargo was also found on the vessel as it is believed that it has just gone out to sea to go fishing,” he said in a statement yesterday (May 5).
All crew members aged 23 to 47 years old including the Indonesian skipper and the boat were detained and escorted to the Bintulu Maritime Zone Vessel Detention Centre for further investigation, he pointed out.
“The case will be investigated under the Fisheries Act for employing foreign workers without a permit and having violated the conditions in the prescribed licence.”
