The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has issued compounds to 30 tourist boats for committing offences under the Sabah Ports and Harbour Department Enactment.

Kota Kinabalu Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director First Admiral Adam Aziz said since the ‘Ops Mengalum’ and ‘Ops Mantanani’ began on Feb 18, MMEA had already issued RM9,200 compounds to the offenders for numerous offences.

He said most of the offences were committed along Kota Kinabalu waters, namely along Jesselton Point right up to Tanjung Aru and in Pantai Teluk Usukan.

“During the operations, 282 boats were inspected by MMEA personnel along Jesselton Point and out of the total, 24 boat operators were compounded for several offences, while operation along Pantai Teluk Usukan saw some 55 tourist boats being stopped for inspection and six of the vessels were issued with compounds for similar offences,” he said yesterday.

Adam said among the offences committed were overloading of passengers, providing worn-out life jackets to passengers, picking up and dropping off passengers at non specific jetties or illegal jetties, operating with expired boat licence and inadequate number of lifebuoy.

Several boat crew were also detained and handed to the Immigration Department for not having any valid documents.

Meanwhile, during the 27-day operation, MMEA personnel have inspected 337 tourist boats with a total of 2,996 local and international tourists.

Among the tourists are 1,050 Malaysians, 447 Koreans, 1,312 from China, nine from Germany, 55 from Taiwan, 18 from Australia, eight from Singapore, 26 from Japan, 22 from the United Kingdom, three from the Netherlands, four from Canada and 69 from other countries.

To ensure safety of all passengers and boat crew, MMEA urged boat operators to abide by the rules and regulations or face having their licences revoked by the relevant authorities.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by BORNEO POST

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