Two vessels were detained by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency off Labuan Tuesday night under suspicion of carrying out illegal ship-to-ship oil transfer, according to local sources.
MMEA Labuan enforcement chief said that patrolling officers spotted the vessels at 16.5 nautical miles south of Labuan.
In addition, the Chief was reported as saying that four Indonesian and one Malaysian are detained as suspects, who are believed to belong at the company’s staff.
He said that the crew had not informed the Marine Department on the transfer, which was an offence.
So far, a total of 1,060 checks were conducted so far this year, which led to 18 arrests for various offences by MMEA officials.
