36 Vietnamese get jail for illegal fishing
Published on: Friday, January 18, 2019
KOTA KINABALU: Thirty-six Vietnamese fishermen were jailed a total of 14 months each on two counts of attempting to fish illegally in Malaysian waters and using an illegal vessel for fishing.
Sessions Court Judge Indra Ayub handed the sentence to the Vietnamese, aged between 15 and 57, after they pleaded guilty to the charges which were read to them through a Vietnamese interpreter.
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On the first count, the 36 were sent to prison for seven months for trying to fish without any valid permit at 11.10am on Aug 25, 2018 at the Tanjung Nosong waters in Kuala Penyu.
The offence under Section 15(1)(a) of the Fisheries Act 1985 and punishable under Section 25(a) of the same Act provides for a fine of up to RM1 million for the vessel skipper, and RM100,000 for each crew of the vessel, on conviction.
On the second count, they were sentenced to another seven months’ jail for using invalid identification on the vessel at the same place and time.
The court ordered the Vietnamese to serve the sentence concurrently from the date of their arrest and referred to the Immigration Department after completing their sentence for deportation.
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The court ordered the vessels to be returned to the rightful owner.
During mitigation, counsel Dato’ Sri Rakhbir Singh, who represented the Vietnamese, urged the court to impose a short imprisonment to his clients saying that they had no money to pay for the fine.
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However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurun Nazifah Muhammad Iyen from Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) urged the court to impose an appropriate sentence on the grounds that the Vietnamese had trespassed the Malaysia waters.
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