SEMPORNA: Marine police foiled attempts by two speedboats to smuggle out controlled items via Pulau Boheian waters, here, on Tuesday.
Sabah (Region Four) Marine Police Commander ACP Mohd Nazri Ibrahim said a team patrolling in the hotspot area spotted two speedboats at 1.10am.
“Both boats were intercepted and 680kg of cooking oil in packets and 2,005 litres of petrol were seized.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});“Four foreigners aged between 16 and 38 were detained for attempting to misappropriate the controlled items,” he said.
According to Mohd Nazri, the seizures including the assets were worth RM79,260.25 and the case is being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) foiled an attempt by a pump boat to smuggle out petrol via Pulau Nusa waters.
Semporna Maritime Zone Director Maritime Commander Amir Shubli said an MMEA patrol vessel intercepted a suspicious pump boat without registration number.
“Upon realising the presence of law enforcement, the boat’s skipper jumped into the water and escaped into a mangrove area to avoid arrest.
“The boat was however detained at 1.40am about 0.2 nautical miles south of Pulau Nusa.
“An inspection on the pump boat discovered 52 jerry cans containing petrol and three pump engines.
“The items were believed to be smuggled out of the country,” he said, adding all the seizures were taken to the Semporna Maritime Zone for further action.
The case is being investigated under the Control of Supplies Act 1961.
