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The
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency has
detained a tugboat and barge for allegedly
dumping dredging silt at an unauthorised area
here.
The agency’s Tanjung Sedili enforcement chief
Abdul Hadib Abd Wahab said the Maritime
Operations Centre received information on the
barge’s illegal activities near Tanjung Stapa,
here, on Saturday.
He said the tugboat, registered as Meisun T33,
and its barge were involved in seabed dredging
off Pasir Gudang Port.
“A team of 32 enforcement officers, with an
officer from the Kota Tinggi district Department
of Environment, conducted a stake-out and
followed the tugboat.”
He said the stake-out was to make sure the
vessel was indeed involved in illegal
activities.
“These vessels are allowed to dump the dredging
silt only at Sungai Punggai, near Kota Tinggi,”
he said.
Abdul Hadib said after a few days of
surveillance, they detained the vessels at
around 2.30pm on Saturday when it was 3.4
nautical miles off the shores of Tanjung Stapa.
Initial investigations revealed that the barge
carried 263,000 cubic metres of dredging silt
and nearly half the contents had already been
dumped into the sea.
“Subsequent investigations showed that the
vessel was registered in Dominica and is owned
by a local company,” Abdul Hadib said.
“The eight Indonesian crewmen were brought to
the Pasir Gudang Port Jetty to assist in
investigations.”
Abdul Hadib said the case was being investigated
under Section 34A(7) of the Environment Quality
Act 1974. He said anyone found guilty of the
offence could face a maximum fine of RM100,000
or five years’ jail or both.
Source: The STAR
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