PHUKET: Two Indonesian fishing trawlers have been seized and 29 crew members arrested for fishing illegally in Thai waters off Muang district of this southern resort island.
A navy task force from two maritime patrol ships stopped the two vessels in Thai waters in the country’s exclusive economic zone, about 40 nautical miles off Phuket on Friday morning.
The vessels with 29 Indonesian crew members aboard were seized and taken to the Ratchada pier in Muang district of Phuket at around 8pm, said Capt Pichet Songtan, spokesman for the Region 3 office of Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre.
The crew members were handed over to police investigators at the Tha Chalong police station for questioning and legal proceedings.
Twenty-nine detained Indonesian crew members from the seized vessels await processing at the Tha Chalong police station in Phuket. (Photo: Achadthaya Chuenniran)