Malaysian police arrest 13 Indonesian fishermen

KUALA LUMPUR (Antara): Malaysian police arrested 13 Indonesian fishermen for fishing in the waters off Pangkor island, Perak, Malaysia on Tuesday.

Chief of Malaysia's North Region Sea Police Zainul Abidin Hassan said the arrest, which was part of the Octopus operation, was made after the police received a tip-off about the presence of three foreign ships in the Malaysian waters, Malaysian newspaper Utusan Malaysia reported.

"If found guilty, the crew members of the ships could face one year in prison and a fine of 500,000 Ringgit, while the ships owners could get three years in jail and must pay a fine of 1 million Ringgit," said Hassan.

Head of the protection and service task force at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur Sapto said he would try to get more information about the fishermen from the Malaysian Sea Police.

Meanwhile, a senior officer at the embassy, Sr. Comr. Setyo Wasisto, said it would be difficult to release the fishermen although they were "only fishing".

"We will try to protect them because they were only fishing. They may not know that they have entered the Malaysian waters because the ships were not equipped with a global positioning system device and there was no sign of border in the sea," Wasisto was quoted by Antara as saying. (mvm)