IPOH: Twenty-two foreign fishermen were nabbed by the Perak Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency for various offences off the state’s coast.
Its director Maritime Capt Mohd Hambali Ya’akup in a statement said a boat was spotted fishing by KM Tugau during a routine patrol in Perak waters at 10.40am, Bernama reported.
Upon inspecting the boat, he said they found that the vessel was operated by a Thai skipper with four Thai crew and 17 Cambodian crew, aged 24 to 57.
Although all had valid identification documents, he said the skipper failed to produce documents for the use of communication equipment and operated less than 15 nautical miles from the mainland.
Further inspection also found about 60 litres of liquid suspected to be ketum water and about 200kg of mixed catch on the boat.
He added that all the fishermen, as well as the seized boat, catch, fishing equipment and suspected ketum, were handed over to the Malaysian Maritime investigating officer, for further action.
