MIRI: A skipper and two crewmen were arrested and their vessel seized after Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) officers here found it operating with an expired licence.
In a statement MMEA director, Captain Md Fauzi Othman said the vessel was held by a patrol team about 16 nautical miles, north-west of Tanjung Payung here on Monday morning.
He said the skipper and two crewmen, namely an Indonesian and a Bangladeshi aged 25 and 36, were arrested for having no valid travel documents.
“Further checks revealed that the vessel’s shipping license had expired,” he said, adding the vessel and crew were escorted to the vessel detention area in Kampung Pulau Melayu for further investigations.
Md Fauzi added that MMEA welcomed information from the maritime community on illegal activities and emergencies at sea, either directly to MERS 999 or the Miri MMEA at 085-418 204 or Sarawak maritime operations centre at 082-432 544 which operates 24 hours.
