The Selangor state division of Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) on Saturday (30 January) said it detained a Singapore flagged tanker for allegedly anchoring without a permit and conducting illegal oil transfers on Friday, 29 January.
“The vessel was discovered 1.2 nautical miles northeast of Carey Island at 11.45 am in a joint operation with the Central Region Marine Department,” said Maritime Captain Mohamad Rosli bin Kassim, Diretor, MMEA Selangor.
“As soon as we received the tip off from the Marine Department, our team rushed to the scene and initial investigations revealed that the vessel could have anchored without a permit from the Marine Department.”
MMEA discovered the vessel is a Singapore registered tanker on its journey from Tanjung Pelepas, Johor to Port Klang and is suspected of illegal oil transfers.
Maritime Captain Rosli noted there were 15 crew onboard, all of whom were Indonesian nationals aged between 20 to 64 years old holding proper identification documents.
The Captain, Assistant Engineer and vessel Agent were detained under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 and were brought to the Selangor State Maritime Headquarters for further investigations.
Maritime Captain Rosli reminded all shipowners any activity in Malaysian waters requires the appropriate permits to be issued by the authorities in order to avoid legal action being taken and that the MMEA is being vigilant to safeguard security in Malaysian waters.
A series of earlier MMEA detentions have been reported by Manifold Times (below) :
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Related: Malaysia: MMEA detains Singapore-flagged bunker tanker for anchoring without permit
Photo credit: Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency
Published: 1 February, 2021
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