A CARGO boat carrying 901 kilogrammes (kg) of Ibu brand cooking oil that exceeded the allowed quota of 500kg, led to the seizure and arrest of two men by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in the waters of Tawau, yesterday.

Tawau MMEA director Maritime Captain Shahrizan Raman said that his team was conducting Op Pagar Laut and spotted a boat carrying various groceries at 7.20pm. Since the boat was moving slowly and in a suspicious manner from Tawau to Sebatik Island, the boat was then boarded, and the items seized.

“An inspection of the boat that was boarded at 1.4 nautical miles south of Tawau Port revealed 901kgs of 1kg cooking oil packed in 53 boxes found hidden under a pile of grocery items. After checking documentation it was found that the authorisation licence to carry oil was limited to 500kg per shipment,” he said in a statement in Tawau today.

Following that, Shahrizan said all the excess goods and the boat worth about RM50,000 were seized and the two suspects, the boat’s skipper and assistant, aged 31 and 45 respectively, were taken to the Tawau Maritime Zone Jetty for further investigations in accordance with the Control of Supplies Act 1961.

He added that his team was strengthening enforcement duties during the current festive season and hoped the maritime community in Tawau could cooperate to report or channel any information on criminal misconduct at sea, by contacting the Tawau Maritime Zone Operations Centre at 089-752116 or MERS 999.

He also said, the Tawau Maritime Zone recorded 17 arrests for various offences from last January until yesterday. – Bernama, April 16, 2023.