JOHOR BARU, Jan 10 — The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained four ships in Johor waters for illegal activities, including anchoring without permission and transferring oil illegally, in an operation yesterday.

Johor MMEA director Maritime First Admiral Nurul Hizam Zakaria said the first case was conducted between 10.50am and 11.30am by the agency’s marine patrol boat team on two tankers registered in Penang and Panama.

"The vessels are suspected of illegally transferring oil at a position of 32 nautical miles east of Tanjung Sedili Besar in Kota Tinggi.

"The tanker from Penang was manned by a crew of 10 people, including Malaysians, Indonesians and Myanmar nationals. The Panama-registered tanker was operated by 18 crew members, consisting of Indian and Pakistani nationals.

"However, all the detained crew members, aged between 25 and 59, have valid travel documents,” said Nurul Hizam during a press conference held at the Johor MMEA headquarters in Menara Tabung Haji here today.

He was commenting on Johor MMEA’s maritime operation, dubbed Operasi Jangkar Haram, in the state’s waters here yesterday.

Nurul Hizam said that the second case occurred at 11.40am where a merchant ship from Douglas, Australia was detained at a position of 11.9 nautical miles east of Tanjung Siang.

He said the vessel was manned by 22 Filipino crew members, aged between 25 and 67.

Nurul Hizam said the last case involved a tanker registered in Zanzibar, Tanzania and was manned by five Indonesian crew members, aged between 26 and 60, when they were detained at 4.14pm.

He said the vessel’s position was at 12 nautical miles east of Tanjung Balau.

"The detention of the third and fourth vessels was due to anchoring without permission and all crew members, including the respective vessel’s captains, were taken to the MMEA’s Tanjung Sedili Maritime Zone for further investigation,” he explained.

For the offence of illegal oil transfers, Nurul Hizam said, 7,000 metric tonnes of Marine Fuel Oil (MFO) worth RM24.5 million were also seized for investigation.

"The case is investigated under Section 491B(1)(K) while for the offence of anchoring without permission will be investigated under Section 491B(1)(L) of the Merchant Shipping Ordinance 1952, which provides for a fine not exceeding RM100,000 or imprisonment not exceeding two years or both,” he said.

Meanwhile, for Johor MMEA’s Operasi Jangkar Haram last year, Nurul Hizam said a total of 98 arrests involving RM2,981,000 in compounds were collected under the operation.

He added that Johor MMEA will continue to carry out enforcement to curb illegal shipping activities in the state’s waters.