KUALA TERENGGANU: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has detained seven Indonesian men for allegedly trespassing on an unmanned oil platform in the Tembikai Field, 77 nautical miles (142km) off Kuala Terengganu.
Its Terengganu director Maritime Capt Mohd Khairulanuar Abdul Majid said they were alerted at 1.30pm on Wednesday (Feb 19) by a local oil exploration company, the owner of the platform.
"A member of the platform’s operations team detected signs of trespass during a routine inspection and found someone hiding in the generator room.
"Our vessel was dispatched to the location and arrived at the platform at 9pm on Wednesday.
"However, rough seas made it difficult to bring the boat closer, and our personnel only managed to board at 11.30am on Thursday (Feb 20),” he told a press conference here on Friday (Feb 21).
Capt Khairulanuar added that the team's inspection of the platform led to the arrest of the suspects, aged between 25 and 45, who were found hiding in the ventilation room.
He said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects had been taken to the platform by boat and were abandoned by the skipper, who fled upon noticing the presence of a ship carrying the platform’s operations crew.
Capt Khairulanuar said the MMEA team also seized equipment believed to have been used by the suspects to steal valuable items from the platform, following the discovery of cut cables and batteries piled up.
He said the agency was still assessing the value of the seized items, but the theft could affect the company’s operations and production, potentially causing losses of tens of millions of ringgit per day.
"We know that this unmanned platform helps support production. Stealing items like solar panels, batteries and cables that generate power for the system would halt production.
"We believe this is not the first time this group has committed such an act and do not rule out the possibility that they are linked to three other reported cases, two on Jan 23 and one on Feb 7.
"No arrests were made in those cases, but Alhamdulillah, we were able to catch them this time,” he said.
Capt Khairulanuar said the three earlier cases in Pulai-A, Gansar and West Belumut A were near the border of a neighbouring country, but Tembikai was the closest to the waters of Kuala Terengganu, suggesting the syndicate was becoming bolder.
"These unmanned platforms are under our watch, but we are also requesting the cooperation of the companies to increase security at their respective premises, as we have seen that many of these cases occur during monsoon season, when it is difficult for our personnel and boats to reach them,” he said.
He said all the suspects have been remanded for seven days from Friday to assist in investigations under Section 378 of the Penal Code for removing property with the purpose of committing theft. – Bernama
