Indonesia will ask Malaysia to transfer custody of a Chinese salvage ship that was caught illegally operating in Indonesian waters last month but fled across the maritime border, Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti said Friday.
"I will contact the Malaysian fisheries ministers for facilitating bilateral discussions to transfer the MV Chuan Hong 68 vessel to Indonesian authorities so it can be processed legally," he said.
(Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries)
On April 20, the Indonesian Navy found the 8,352-ton Chinese vessel collecting scrap metal from shipwrecks near the Anambas Islands of Riau Province and brought it to shore, detaining 20 crew members -- 16 Chinese, three Indians and one Malaysian -- who claimed the captain was not among them.
But at 1:30 a.m. on April 22, the navy discovered the vessel missing.
Indonesia coordinated with Malaysian's maritime enforcement authorities to find it, which they did on April 28, off the eastern coast of Malaysia's Johor state.
The listed owner of MV Chuan Hong 68 is Shanghai Chonghe Marine Industry Co.
Indonesian officials said the vessel had salvaged metal from three Japanese shipwrecks in Malaysian waters, including the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Sagiri that was sunk off Borneo during World War II, and two other vessels in Indonesian waters, namely a Swedish supertanker and an Italian steamship.
