PORT KLANG (Bernama): The marine police here detained a dredger, registered in the Republic of Togo, West Africa, for conducting dredging and sand mining activities without a permit in the waters off Tanjung Rhu, Telok Panglima Garang, Selangor, during an operation last Saturday (Feb 2).
The dredger was detained 1.7 nautical miles in Tanjung Rhu waters at 1.50pm by a team conducting Op Gelora Khas.
Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department director Comm Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said a 35-year-old man, believed to be the skipper of the dredger, and five male crew members aged between 26 and 54, who are all Chinese nationals, were arrested to assist the investigation.
He said that the dredger and sand seized amounted to RM1.02mil.
“The dredger was detained while it was mining sand from the sea bed without a permit from the Selangor Land and Minerals Department.
“Upon further investigation of the front deck of the dredger, we found 1,500 tonnes of sand believed to be from its mining activity,” he told a press conference at the Port Klang Marine Police Base on Monday (Feb 4).
Also present was Port Klang Marine Police operation team commanding officer DSP Mohd Khairuddin Jamal.
Acryl Sani said preliminary investigations found that the sand, meant for the local market, would be unloaded at Sungai Langat, Banting, Selangor.
He said police also found that a local company had rented the 1,489-tonne and 70.5m-long dredger to use in the illegal activities for the last two weeks.
“We also arrested a Myanmar man, 24, who we believe was hired to carry out maintenance work on the vessel,” he said. - Bernama
