Kota Kinabalu: Six Vietnamese were fined a total of RM2.4 million for illegally entering and fishing in Malaysian waters.
Sessions Court Judge Egusra Ali handed the sentence to the six, who pleaded guilty to the charge against them.
Skipper Nguyen Hoa Hiep, 50, was fined RM1 million or four months’ jail, while crew members Lan Dinh Toan, 41, Chan Ngoc Sang, 28, Tran Thanh Hai, 20, and Nguyen Hoang Lanh, 20, were each fined RM100,000 or two months’ jail.
The five committed the fishing activity without any permit from the Malaysian Fisheries Chief on a foreign vessel at 2.40pm on March 7, this year at Tanjung Kiamsam, Pulau Labuan.
The offence, under Section 15(1)(a) of the Fisheries Act 1985 and punishable under Section 25(a) of the same Act and read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, provides for a fine of up to RM6 million for the vessel skipper and RM600,000 for each crew member of the vessel, on conviction.
Meanwhile, another Vietnamese skipper, Danh Thai, 35, was ordered to pay a fine of RM1 million or two months’ jail for entering a Malaysian fishing area.
Danh, who was arrested at 2.30pm on July 11, this year on a foreign vessel in Pulau Kuraman, Labuan, did not inform an enforcement officer through radio, telex or facsimile in English or Malay about his name, flag country, location, destination of the vessel, types and amount of fish in his vessel while in the Malaysian fishing area.
During mitigation, counsel Hamida Ambo, who represented all the Vietnamese, asked for a lenient sentence as they pleaded guilty to the charge which had saved all parties’ time and cost.
She added that all the Vietnamese had cooperated with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement (MME) during investigation and that they had been remanded since March 7 this year.
Hamidah asked for a minimum custodial sentence as the Vietnamese wished to return to their country as soon as possible.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Wan Muhammad Fitri Wan Azizan from MME urged the court to hand down a maximum sentence due to the seriousness of the case.
Wan Muhammad said the Vietnamese had breached the law in Malaysia by catching fish illegally, which would affect the eco-system in Malaysian waters.
.jpg)
