VIETNAMESE SKIPPER AND CREW DETAINED FOR FISH BOMBING

KUCHING (Malaysia), Dec 28 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement
Agency has detained a Vietnamese skipper and crew who are believed to have been
fish bombing in the waters of Tanjung Lobang in Miri on Christmas Eve.

Miri is a city in northern Sarawak, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo.

Sarawak maritime enforcement chief First Admiral Ismaili Bujang Pit said
Monday the 16 Vietnamese were arrested after a two-hour sea chase at 4.30pm on
Dec 24 at Beting Patinggi Ali, about 106 nautical miles off Tanjung Lobang.

"We inspected their vessel and found that they were using a fake
registration number, and their catch was scalded and bloody," he told reporters
here.

"We have seized the vessel, fish weighing about half a tonne and the
equipment used to bomb them."

Ismaili said the 47-year-old skipper and crew members, aged between 20 and
58, did not have passports and were remanded for 14 days from Monday.

The skipper was bleeding in the neck from a wound believed to have been
inflicted by crew members who did not want him to cooperate with enforcement
personnel wanting to inspect the vessel.

He was sent to the Miri Hospital for treatment.

Ismaili said that Sarawak maritime enforcement personnel conducted 1,628
checks and made 187 arrests this year, compared to 1,566 checks and 165 arrests
in 2009.

--BERNAMA