KUDAT: The Kudat Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) on Thursday detained five Vietnamese fishermen on suspicion of illegally catching gamat (sea cucumbers) in the waters here, and seized the gamat which was estimated to be more than 800kg.
Director of the Kudat Maritime Zone, Maritime Commander Boon Chin Chau said the fishermen who were between 23 and 43 years of age, were detained with their boat at seven nautical miles east off Pulau Sibogor Laut, Pulau Banggi, here at 10am on Thursday.
He said further checks found that the boat was not a Malaysian-registered vessel and fishermen did not have any valid identification papers.
He added that the confiscated items including the boat and the gamat were valued at RM355,000 and the fishermen and their boat were taken to the Kudat Jetty for further investigations.
The case is being investigated under the Fisheries Act for illegally catching fish in Malaysian waters and the Immigration Act 1959/63 for not having valid identification papers.
Members of the public are advised to contact MERS 999 or the Kudat Maritime Operations Centre at telephone 088-611858 if they have any information of criminal activities of accidents occurring in national waters, he said. – Bernama
