MELAKA: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) of Melaka and Negeri Sembilan detained a tanker for anchoring without a permit in Tanjung Dahan yesterday.
State MMEA director Maritime Captain Mohd Khairi Abd Aziz said the vessel was detained at 11.30 am yesterday after the Sea Surveillance System (SWASLA) detected the ship at 7.5 nautical miles southwest of Tanjung Dahan.
“The MMEA patrol boat, which was conducting a patrol under Phase 2.0 of Ops Murni/Op Tiris, was sent to the location.
“An inspection of the vessel, which is registered in Limbe, Cameroon, found that it had six crew members, including the ship’s captain, who are all Iranian nationals aged between 37 and 70,” he said in a statement today.
Further investigation of the vessel, which is sailing from Japan to Dubai, also found that it did not have insurance documents either.
He said the ship’s captain was also taken to the Melaka and Negeri Sembilan Maritime office to assist in investigations on suspicion of committing an offence under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance (MSO) 1952, which is anchoring without permission from the director-general of the Marine Department of Malaysia and not having insurance documents for the vessel.
Any information regarding any wrongdoings at sea can be relayed to the Melaka and Negeri Sembilan Maritime Operations Centre at 06-3876730 dan MERS999, which operates 24 hours.–Bernama
