PUTRAJAYA - The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has recorded a total of 340 cases involving maritime criminal activities from January to April this year.
MMEA maritime enforcement and coordination division director Rear Admiral (M) Hamid Mohd Amin said the maritime criminal activities recorded included the smuggling of drugs, ketum, subsidised controlled items, illegal immigrants and the intrusion of foreign fishing boats into the country's waters.
According to him, the illegal foreign fishermen, who normally encroached the waters of Kelantan and Terengganu, are now brazen enough to enter through Pulau Tioman as they are experts on the country’s waterways, and it is believed there are syndicates involving local ground coordinator (tekong darat).
Hamid said the cooperation among various agencies, as in the ‘Op Benteng’ when the country was hit with the COVID-19 pandemic, needed to be further expanded in terms of information sharing and technology improvement to enable each agency to improve their planning and capabilities.
"We see the need for mutual understanding, agreement and collaboration between agencies involved in the enforcement and legal aspects of the maritime law to create uniformity of implementation to overcome the 'grey area' which involves enforcement coordination and duplication of powers,” he told the reporters after launching the Maritime Enforcement Seminar here today. - BERNAMA