11 Vietnamese charged with violating Fisheries Act

KOTA KINABALU: Eleven Vietnamese men, including three skippers were separately charged in the Sessions Court here with offences under the Fisheries Act 1985.

All the accused aged between 26 and 53 were brought before judge Elsie Primus to enter their plea yesterday.

The two vessel captains had pleaded not guilty to their charges of failing to inform enforcement officers via telephone, telex or facsimile whether in English or Malay regarding their names, country flags, routes, destination of their vessels, types and amount of fish in the vessels and any matters related on why they were allegedly in Malaysian waters.

The two accused had allegedly committed the offences inside two vessels at Pulau Mengalum at 5.47 pm and 6.15 pm respectively on July 1, 2020.

Meanwhile, another vessel skipper, who was represented by counsel Mohd Al Hafidz Mohd Lokman, had pleaded guilty to committing a similar offence inside a vessel at Pulau Mantanani Kecil on August 14, 2020.

However, the judge had put off the sentencing of the accused, who admitted to the charge, pending the facts of the case and the court fixed February 10 for sentencing while two skippers’ cases were also fixed on the same date for their pre-trial cases management.

As for another eight accused persons, they had admitted to illegally catching sea cucumbers inside a foreign fisherman’s boat in Malaysian waters on September 5, 2020.

The judge also set February 10 for facts and sentencing of all the accused persons.

In the meantime, the eleven accused will be further detained in custody as they were denied bail.