KOTA KINABALU, April 25 — A local fishing boat was detained at 0.5 nautical miles off Tanjung Logong, Pulau Gaya by the Kota Kinabalu Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), near here yesterday for employing illegal foreign workers.

Kota Kinabalu MMEA director First Admiral Adam Aziz said an MMEA vessel stumbled upon the fishing boat when patrolling the area at 8.20pm.   

He said upon inspection, eight Vietnamese crew were on the boat with work permits that had expired on Dec 30, 2016.

"We also confiscated their catch comprising 200 kilogrammes of fish in the boat which was towed with the illegal workers to the MMEA jetty in Sepanggar for further investigations,” he said in a statement here today.

Adam said investigations also revealed that the fishing boat’s licence had expired on Dec 30, 2016 and therefore violated the licencing conditions for possessing illegal fishing equipment.

He said the case would be investigated under Section 8 (B) of the Fisheries Act 1985 for employing illegal foreign workers. — Bernama