Shooting of Vietnamese fisherman: Firearm rules followed, says MMEA

PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) personnel adhered to the firearm rules of engagement before firing shots at Vietnamese fishing boats in a fatal incident about 180km from Tok Bali, Kelantan on Sunday (Aug 16), says its director-general Admiral Datuk Mohd Zubil Mat Som.

He said the MMEA crew had fired warning shots earlier on in attempt to detain the two Vietnamese fishing boats in the 11.40 pm incident in which one Vietnamese was shot dead.

"However, the warning shots were ignore.

"And the Vietnamese even threw a Molotov cocktail and hard objects such as metal bars, large wood blocks and spanners at the MMEA boat, thus endangering the enforcement crew's lives and government’s assets.

"The fishing boats then acted more aggressively by ramming our boat, causing the MMEA crew to have no choice but to open fire in defending themselves and (the government's) assets, ” he said in a statement on Monday (Aug 17) on the incident.

Besides the dead Vietnamese fisherman, the MMEA also arrested 12 remaining crew members of the boats.

Mohd Zubil said the incident occurred outside Malaysia's territorial waters (over 12 nautical miles from the baseline) but it was still within the Malaysian Maritime Zone.

He said MMEA took the aggression and extreme actions of the Vietnamese fishermen seriously.

"A transparent investigation will be carried out accordingly on the incident, and MMEA will continue to enforce the law and existing standard operating procedure in guarding the country's waters against encroachment," he added.

Meanwhile on Aug 12 in Sarawak, 20 Vietnamese and two fishing boats were detained, 225 nautical miles north of Tanjung Po, near Kuching.

Sarawak MMEA director, First Admiral Robert Teh Geok Chuan said the arrests were made during Op Naga Timur, while the boats were fishing using the joint trawling method.

"Upon inspection, we found 17 crew members including the skipper on the first boat, while on the second boat, three, including the skipper, were carrying out illegal fishing," he said in a press conference.

He said 40 tonnes of fish, 13,000 litres of diesel and two boats were seized, with the total value estimated to be RM2.5mil. – Bernama