Malaysia nabs barter boat smuggling diesel from Indonesia

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 09/21/2008 10:18 AM  |  World

The crew of a barter trade boat from Batam, Indonesia, was caught smuggling 70,000 liters of diesel off the Pengerang coast near Johor Baru, Malaysia's Star daily reported on Sunday.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Southern Region spotted the activity during a search following information from undercover agents.

The diesel was worth about RM170,000 (about US$50,000).

Agency Southern Region commander First Admiral Che Hassan Jusoh said the diesel was being transferred from the boat to a Panama-registered tanker when the enforcement team arrived.

“The vessels were anchored about 5km from Tanjong Setapah when our team arrived,” he said. The incident happened at 3.30am Saturday.

Che Hassan said all eight crew members on the barter trade boat, aged between 20 and 32, were detained for four days as they could not produce any identification documents.

Che Hassan said it is believed about five liters of diesel had already been transferred to the tanker when the team arrived.

He added that only two crew members were on the tanker during the raid and their details had been recorded by the agency.

“According to the crew list, there should be 11 people on the boat,” he said.

The possibility that locals were involved had not been ruled out.

A motorboat which the crew used as a “guard” to the barter trade boat was also seized.

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