Seriously! 2 Ships Allegedly Suctioning Illegal Sands In Batam Waters

The ship that was secured for allegedly carrying out illegal sand suction in Batam waters, Riau Islands, Thursday (10/10/2024). ANTARA/Harianto

BATAM - The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) through the Directorate General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervision (PSDKP) revealed that two ships were suspected of carrying out illegal sand suction activities in Batam waters, Riau Islands.

PSDKP Director General Pung Nugroho Saksono in Batam, Thursday, said that the two Malaysian-flagged ships were secured on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, when they passed the ship Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Sakti Wahyu Trenggono about a working visit to Nipa Island.

"So, yesterday it happened on Wednesday, October 9, the Minister made a visit to Nipa Island, so in the middle of the road we found this ship. This ship is indicated to have consumed sea sand and we have been monitoring this ship for a long time, it is thin at the border sometimes enters where we are," said Pung Nugroho when releasing the disclosure.

The man who is familiarly called Ipung revealed that when the ship was ordered to stop and carry out an inspection, no official documents were found.

"We found this ship in front of us for papasan, immediately we ordered the termination, and we carried out an inspection. When inspected this ship there was no document at all about its ship, which had the captain's personal documents. This is wrong," said IpungDia, saying that the sand load on the ship was approximately 10 thousand cubic meters once suction for 9 hours. The sand will be sent to neighboring Singapore.

Ipung said of the two ships, 29 crew members (ABK) worked on ships originating from West Africa. Two of them are Indonesian citizens (WNI).

Even so, Ipung said the 29 crew members were still under the presumption of innocence. However, his party will still conduct an in-depth investigation because they already have one evidence that there is no ship documents.

"Furthermore, we will explore this ship, at this time we determine it as the principle of presumption of innocence. However, we already have a little evidence and we will develop it to what extent the level of violation is," said Ipung.