The foreign ships had committed crimes at sea such as piracy, illegal fishing, illegal logging and smuggling.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia, through its National Maritime Security Coordinating Board or Bakorkamla, has from January to August 2011 seized a total of 93 foreign ships operating illegally in the country`s waters, a Bakorkamla spokesman said.

"Almost all of them have undergone legal process and been handed to investigators," Bakorkamla chief executive officer Vice Admiral Didik Heru Purnomo said here on Monday.

The foreign ships had committed crimes at sea such as piracy, illegal fishing, illegal logging and smuggling, Didik said.

Now the legal process was being conducted against the owners of ten foreign ships. One of the vessels that had been impounded was the "Kapal Pancung" which had tried to commit piracy in Anambas waters near the border with Singapore, he said.

Didik said the actions against the foreign ships operating illegally in Indonesian waters were taken as part of two programs, namely year-long operations and Operation Gurita (octopus).

The year-long operations were conducted on three days every month in cooperation with six related stakeholders, he said.

The operations were conducted by the Batam task force, Manado task force and Ambon task force while Operation Gurita was carried out by chasing pirates, Didik said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011