IPOH, April 19 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) of Perak detained 20 foreign fishermen in an operation about 2.1 nautical miles northwest of Pulau Mentagor, Pangkor here yesterday.
Perak MMEA director Capt Maritime Mohamad Shukri Khotob said the fishermen were detained along with a class C local fishing boat on suspicion of breaking the law at about 7.00 pm.
He added that an MMEA boat out on patrol under Ops Sayong, Op Pintas, Op Tiris and Op Khas Pagar Laut spotted the fishing boat in the waters of Perak.
"An inspection of the boat found that it was manned by a skipper, who was assisted by a Thai crew member with valid identification documents while the other 13 Myanmar crew members and five Cambodian crew members possessed dubious and expired documents.
"We detained all the fishermen, aged between 27 and 60, and seized the boat and fishing equipment,” he said in a statement today.
He said the case is being investigated under the Immigration Act 1959/63 for staying in the country without valid identification documents and overstaying.
-- BERNAMA
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