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Kota Kinabalu: A 39-year-old Vietnamese was fined a total of RM310,000 for failing to notify the authorised officer while being on Malaysian waters and also entering Malaysian waters illegally.

Sessions Court Judge Egusra Ali handed the sentence to Nguyen Huu Tri who pleaded guilty to the charge against him.

He was fined RM300,000 or three months’ jail for failing to notify the officer through radio, telex or facsimile in English or Malay language about their names, country flag, location, vessel’s destination as well as types and amount of fish they were carrying while on Malaysian waters.

Nguyen committed the offence on April 11 this year at 4.40am inside a foreign vessel with the registration TG 72972 at Pulau Labuan.

The offence under Section 16(3) of the Fisheries Act and punishable under Section 25(a) of the same Act provides for a fine of up to RM6 million for the skipper, and RM600,000 for each crew of the vessel, on conviction.

During mitigation, counsel Rakhbir Singh who defended Nguyen, asked for leniency saying that it was Nguyen’s first offence and that his client was already detained for eight months.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nurun Nazifah Muhammad Iyen from the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement urged for an appropriate sentence.

Nguyen who was the skipper of the vessel, was also fined another RM10,000 in default three months’ jail for illegally entering Malaysian waters without  documents.

Meanwhile, the other four crews namely, Danh Minh, Le Cuc Xiep, Le Thank Phuong and Vo Hoang Nam, were fined RM10,000 or spend three months in prison each for entering Malaysian waters without permits.