Kelantan: The Kelantan Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained a fishing vessel and arrested three foreign fishermen from Vietnam on suspicion of trespassing into the country’s waters at a position about 94 nautical miles from the Tok Bali estuary on Sunday.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, the arrest was made by a Malaysian Maritime enforcement vessel that was conducting patrols at the Malaysia-Vietnam border under Op Damai, Op Naga Barat, and Op Tiris at 4.49pm. Maritime Captain Erwan Shah Soahdi, the director of Kelantan MMEA, shared that all the foreigners, suspected to be aged between 37 and 41, initially did not cooperate and attempted to flee to the country’s territorial waters when the Malaysian Maritime enforcers instructed them to stop the vessel.

Further inspection of the vessel revealed about 5,000 kilograms of fish, navigation and communication equipment, as well as a supply of 600 liters of diesel, with an estimated value of nearly RM1 million. The process of bringing the vessel back took 23 hours before arriving at the MMEA jetty at about 3.55pm the next day, where it was then handed over to the investigating officer.

The case will be investigated under Section 15 (1)(a) of the Fisheries Act 1985, Section 16(3) of the Fisheries Act 1985, and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.