XINZHOU1

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Illegal sand dredger detained

The "Xinzhou 1", carrying more than 1,000 tonnes of sand illegally mined off Port Klang, has been intercepted by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in the Malacca Strait. She was believed to have been engaged by a company to transport sand to a location in Kuala Langat, Selangor. Eight crew members and the skipper, all Chinese nationals, aged between 41 and 60, were arrested. The ship was spotted as part of the 'Ops Satria Selatan' patrol and was boarded after personnel found it to be suspicious on July 5 at about 4.30 p.m. Upon inspection, it was found that the ship had no customs or a domestic shipping licence allowing it to engage in sand-mining activities, and it was detained. It had a pump extractor and its activities could have gone unnoticed as the sand was mined underwater.