JOHOR BARU, Oct 15 ― The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) managed to foil an unauthorised oil transfer by three vessels in the waters off Sedili, near Kota Tinggi yesterday.
Johor State Maritime director First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria said the Tanjung Sedili Maritime Zone received a complaint from the local maritime community about a suspicious ship-to-ship (STS) activity off Tanjung Sedili.
A Malaysian Maritime patrol boat involved in Ops Jaksa then detected the three vessels close to each other at 14 nautical miles east of Tanjung Sedili Besar at 7pm.
“The vessels detained were a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), a tanker and a service/supply boat. Further inspection revealed that the VLCC was transferring its oil cargo to the tanker.
“The 333-metre Comoros-registered VLCC had a crew of 19 Indian nationals and one Pakistani while the Labuan-registered tanker had a crew of 15 Indian nationals, five Ukrainians and three Russians,” he said, adding that the service boat was registered in Indonesia and had a crew of eight Indonesians.
“The vessels failed to produce any authorisation regarding the activities being conducted,” he said.
Nurul Hizam said the case would be investigated under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952 for unauthorised STS activity, anchoring without permission and unauthorised services. The agency is also looking to charge the offenders for other offences.
If convicted of the first two offences, they could be fined not more than RM100,000 or jailed not more than two years for each offence. ― Bernama
