TAWAU: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained three men, including an Indonesian, and seized a tugboat carrying 856 logs at a location 0.4 nautical miles south of the mouth of Sungai Logpond here last Tuesday (April 2).
Tawau Maritime Zone director Maritime Captain Shahrizan Raman said they made the arrest and seizure while conducting Ops Khas Pagar Laut, Ops Pluto Timur and Ops Tiris at 10.20 am when the tugboat, along with a barge carrying logs, was moving from Kalabakan waters to Tanjung Batu Logpond waters.
“The boat’s crew, comprising two local men and one Indonesian man aged between 18 and 60, were arrested, and a thorough inspection of the tugboat’s documentation revealed that one of the crew members was not listed in the licence and failed to report the crew change.
“All crew members and confiscated items, including logs valued at over RM300,000, were taken to the Tawau Maritime Zone jetty, and the case is being investigated under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952-MSO 1952 for violating valid licence terms,“ he said in a statement here today.
Shahrizan said the Tawau Maritime Zone recorded 61 arrests for various offences in the first three months of this year, with 12 recorded during the Ops Khas Pagar Laut.
He urged anyone with any information on maritime crimes in Tawau waters to immediately contact the Tawau Maritime Zone Operations Centre at 089-752116 or MERS 999.
