BINTULU: A Vietnamese skipper who offered a bribe after he and his crew were hauled up following a 10-hour chase in the high seas is now in double trouble.
Not only are they being investigated for fishing illegally but the skipper is also under scrutiny for trying to buy his way out following their arrest.
The drama unfolded on Thursday night (April 7) with Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) personnel spending near 10 hours pursuing the fishing boat which was spotted fishing in Malaysian waters.
They eventually intercepted the boat and detained its six crew members and skipper, aged between 28 and 37.
Despite their predicament, the skipper offered a bribe of RM5,300 to the enforcement team to release them.
MMEA Bintulu Maritime Zone director Captain (Maritime) Mohd Khairol Anuar Saad,said the arrest took place about 90 nautical miles from the Kemena River estuary around 8am on Friday (Apr 8).
The arrest followed intelligence and complaints from the maritime community regarding the foreign boat being in Sarawak waters.
“During a routine patrol on Thursday night, KM Setia detected a suspicious boat stealing produce suspected to be sea cucumbers.
“Based on the physical structure and registration number of the boat, it was believed to be a Vietnamese fishing boat.
“After noticing our (KM Setia) ship, the boat tried to escape from being inspected. This led to a chase that lasted almost 10 hours,” he said.
Khairol added that four of the crew members including the skipper had identity documents while, two others did not have any valid identity documents.
In addition, the skipper also failed to submit permission documents to conduct fishing activities in national waters.
“The boat is believed to have just been at the location (where MMEA spotted them) based on the suspected load of sea cucumber amounting to about three kilogrammes along with 2,000 kg of salt, which will be used as a preservative to maintain the durability of the sea cucumber before it is brought back to Vietnam,” he said.
The boat, its crew, fishing equipment and the sea cucumber, were taken to the MMEA Bintulu Vessel Detention Centre for further action.
He pointed out that the case is being investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985 for not having any valid documents to fish in national waters and under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009 for offering a bribe to enforcement officers.
