SIBU: Marine police here seized a ship and arrested six crew for allegedly carrying out illegal sand extraction yesterday (June 10).
Sarawak Marine Police Region Five (PPMW5) commander ACP Zulfikar Mohd Ghazali, in a statement on the PPMW5 Facebook page, said a patrol team spotted and detained a ship carrying out the extraction works in the waters of Paradom.
Six locals, including the skipper aged between 25 and 56, were found to be operating the ship.
“Inspections found that the skipper had failed to submit any sand extraction licence to carry out activities legally.
“Aside from that, the ship’s licence has also expired,” said Zulfikar.
Because of that, the crew were believed to have committed an offence under the Sarawak Land Code Act.
All the equipment and the ship with an estimated value of RM2,620,000 were seized and taken back to the Sibu Marine Police headquarters for further action.
Zulfikar pointed out that the case would be handed over to the Sibu Division Land and Survey Department for further action.
