PASIR PUTEH, June 21 — The Kelantan Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has detained the skipper of a boat and five Vietnamese fishermen for illegally catching fish in national waters yesterday evening.

Kelantan Maritime Operations deputy director Maritime Commander Ismail Hamzah said all the suspects were between the ages of 26 and 50 and were detained at 111 nautical miles from Kuala Tok Bali by an MMEA patrol boat which was on its rounds under the Pagar Laut Special Ops at 5.42pm.

"The crew had attempted to escape for about three nautical miles but were detained by the MMEA team,” he said in a press conference at the Kelantan MMEA headquarters in Tok Bali here today.

Ismail said the suspects and the boat were brought to the Kelantan MMEA jetty in Tok Bali at about 2pm to be investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985.

He said that during the operations, the MMEA also confiscated fishing equipment and the catch which was estimated to be worth more than RM100,000.

Ismail said from January till yesterday, the MMEA had detained 18 fishing boats which included 14 Vietnamese boats while the remainder were local fishing boats involved in various offences. — Bernama