Trio of ships transferring fuel illegally caught

KOTA TINGGI: Three vessels suspected of transferring fuel from ship to ship were successfully apprehended by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency of Maritime District 7 Tanjung Sedili Branch along the waters of Pengerang today.
The vessels are San Lorenzo registered Mt Atami Maru; Kuching registered TB Macallan and Indonesia registered TB LL Lamborghini.
The District 7 Tanjung Sedili enforcement chief, Captain Amran Daud said the vessels were detained about 9.15am during their surveillance rounds at 3.8 nautical miles off Teluk Ramunia.
He said the vessels were detained after being caught in the act of transferring the fuel, believed to be Marine Fuel Oil (MFO), without any permit or documentations to do so.
The vessels, he added, had also committed other offences such as failure to notify the Malaysian authorities of their arrival in Malaysian waters and anchoring in a restricted area.
This is the fifth case where vessels were caught transferring fuel illegally.
Amran said they picked up 33 people aged between 20 and 50 years – three Malaysians,16 Thais, 10 Indonesians, and four Burmese – in connection with the case from the detained vessels.
If found guilty, the offenders can be fined not more than RM100,000 or maximum imprisonment of two years or both under Section 49 1B(1)(k) of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 for illegal transfer of fuel and Section 49 1B(1)(l) of the same act for entering Malaysian waters without approval from the Marine Department.
Two crew members from each vessel has been brought to district maritime office to assist in their investigations.