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Malaysia: MMEA detains five more oil tankers in special ops, total detentions stand at 18

31 Mar 2021

The Johor state division of Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) on Tuesday (30 March) said it has detained five vessels on day six of  ‘Ops Jangka Haram’, a special operation to crack down on foreign vessels anchored illegally in eastern Johor waters.

“Vessels MT Minerva Grace, New Dynasty, MT Alami Sky, MT Yolanda, and MT Castor were detained between 11.50 am to 3.45 pm at the Tompok Utara anchorage area,” reported MMEA Johor Maritime Director Nurul Hizam Zakaria.

To date, the MMEA said it has detained 18 vessels under ‘Ops Jangka Haram’ for further investigations and nine vessels have cooperated by paying the anchorage fee necessary to stay in the area. 

“We are day six into ‘Ops Jangka Haram’, and of the 105 vessels discovered last week, only 12 stubbornly remain,” added Maritime Director Nurul Hizam.

MMEA announced last Monday (22 March) it has discovered that waters east of Johor has become a “hotspot” for foreign vessels to anchor illegally and conduct unlawful activities such as  illegally releasing oil into the ocean. In a single sweep, the patrol team detected 105 vessels anchoring illegally. 

Since then, it has been aggressively taking action to evict these vessels, even deploying the Special Task and Rescue Force (PTK) team to board the vessels via helicopter to perform surprise inspections.

A series of earlier MMEA detentions have been reported by Manifold Times (below):

Related: Malaysia: MMEA reports no new vessels anchoring illegally, five days into special ops
Related: MMEA search detects 15 illegally anchored oil tankers in latest aerial sweep
Related: Malaysia: Government losing out on millions in revenue from unpaid anchorage fees
Related: Malaysia: MMEA launches special ops to evict 100 illegal vessels in eastern Johor
Related: MMEA reports Johor eastern waters to be ‘hotspot’ for vessels to anchor illegally
Related: MMEA detains Liberian registered tanker for allegedly anchoring illegally in Perak
Related: MMEA detains Panama registered tanker for allegedly anchoring illegally in Selangor
Related: MMEA detains Thailand registered tanker for allegedly anchoring illegally in Selangor
Related: MMEA detains Singapore flagged tanker suspected of illegal oil transfers in Selangor
Related: MMEA detains Panama flagged tanker for anchoring illegally in eastern Johor
Related: Malaysia: MMEA detains loaded oil tanker for allegedly anchoring illegally in Perak
Related: MMEA detains tanker ‘MT Tahiti’ in Malacca waters for anchoring without a permit
Related: MMEA detains St Kitts & Nevis registered tanker for anchoring illegally in eastern Johor
Related: MMEA detains Malaysia & Mongolia registered tankers for anchoring illegally in Johor
Related: Malaysia: MMEA detains tanker for anchoring without a permit in southeastern Johor


Photo credit: MMEA
Published: 31 March, 2021

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