The Malaysian Maritime Authority has detained a dredger that was operating illegally on the west coast of the peninsula.
The foreign crew was taken to the port for further investigation. The unnamed suction dredger has been spotted several times in the waters off Pulau Ketam, a group of islands near Port Klang in the Straits of Malacca. The Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) received several complaints about the vessel and monitored it for several days. The Dredger carried out sand drilling on the seabed and vacuumed up the material.
Multiple complaints about the dredger
Patrol boats later arrived to inspect the suspect vessel, which at the time was 11.5 nm southwest of Ketam. The inspection revealed that the dredger was operated by an Indian, two Indonesians and eight Chinese. According to the MMEA, none of the crew members could identify themselves, nor did they have an operating license.
As a result, the ship, loaded with 2,200m3 of sand, was brought to the Pulai Indah Marine Police Force pier and finally handed over to the MMEA. The authority reported that the crew of the dredger have now been charged with illegal sand drilling. The eleven men are also being investigated under the Malaysian Immigration Act as they do not have valid documents.
