Five Vietnamese fined RM530,000 for illegal fishing

Five Vietnamese fishermen were fined a total of RM530,000 by the Sessions Court here yesterday for illegally fishing in the waters of Malaysia.

Judge Elsie Primus imposed the sentence on skipper, Truong Thanh, 30, and the rest of the crew, Phi Van Tan, 37, Nguyen Van My, 29, Nguyen Van Dat, 30, and Nguyen Van Vinh, 30, after they pleaded guilty to a joint charge yesterday.

Truong was fined RM250,000, in default, three months in jail while the crew were each fined RM70,000, in default, two months in jail.

The fishermen were apprehended for the offence inside a foreign fishing vessel located at 18 nautical miles east from Sibongor Laut Banggi, Kudat at 10am on June 30.

All of them were convicted under Section 15(1)(a) of the Fisheries Act 1985 punishable under Section 25 (a) of the same Act and read with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

The indictment provides for a fine of up to RM1 million for the skipper and RM100,000 for the crew, upon conviction.

In mitigation, through an interpreter, Truong pleaded for leniency on the grounds that his family is very poor and has two schooling children, while the rest of the crewmen also said that they have their families back home.

One of the crew also said that he was not aware that fishing in the waters of Malaysia is illegal.

Prosecuting officer from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Aimi Najiha Abdullah urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence against the accused persons as they had trespassed on the waters of Malaysia which affected the fishing industry in the country.

The court also ordered for the jail sentence to run from yesterday, if the accused persons failed to pay the fine.