Sunday, November 8, 2009

MMEA detains five tankers off Pengerang

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained five foreign tankers for allegedly entering Malaysian waters without permission and conducting illegal cleaning of the vessels near Pengerang.

Its enforcement chief, First Admiral (Maritime) Che Hassan Jusoh said the tankers and the crew, totaling 24 and comprising 20 Indonesian and two Indian nationals, were detained at about 10.30am Sunday at 3.8 nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Stapa.

Checks carried out on one of the tankers, Jakarta-registered M.T Suwito, found 16 bags of sludge on board, he told reporters here Monday.

He said the other four tankers M.T Atago and Antago Power, both registered in San Lorenzo; Her Chang, which is registered in La Paz and Eastern Hill, which did not posses any documents were believed to have not informed the Malaysian authorities about their arrival.

Che Hassan said the five tankers were detained after two others, M.T Jet and Panama-registered M.T Rahmah 1, were detained on suspicion of conducting illegal siphoning of oil.

Source: TheStar

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