Three individuals, a Malaysian couple, and Vietnamese fishing boat captain, are being held in remand for seven days while officials investigate claims against them that they attempted to bribe a Malaysian Maritime (MMEA) officer in Terengganu. They are accused of attempting to entice the MMEA officer into releasing a seized Vietnamese fishing boat.
They were arrested at 1:30pm yesterday at a local restaurant, with RM100,000 (US$24,000) in cash while officers from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) swooped in as part of a sting.
The suspects, aged between 29 and 48, were attempting to secure the release of a fishing boat worth millions of Ringgit that was to be disposed of by the Malaysian government, after it was busted fishing in Malaysian waters.
Illegal fishing activities in Malaysian waters have become a concern in recent years, with nearly 100 Chinese vessels being detected off of Borneo waters just this year.
MMEA recently set a seized boat on fire off of the coast of Kelantan, as a means to dissuade illegal fishing activities.
