Five Indonesian Intruders Jailed After High Sea Drama
By Rol Ezam

Bandar Seri Begawan - Five Indonesian men were sentenced to three months jail yesterday under the Immigration and Fisheries Act.

One of them, the vessel's master Usman Ali, faced an additional charge that earned him another six months jail.

According to Pg Isa Pg Hj Aliuddin, who appeared for the Public Prosecutor, all the defendants - Usman Ali, 32, Yunus Sule, 35, Umar Saing, 25, Haeruddin Abdul Latif, 27, and Saparuddin Tanda, 25, were first sentenced to three months in jail for entering Brunei without being in possession of a valid pass.

They were then sentenced to two months in jail for catching fish by trawling without a valid licence. The presiding Magistrate Muhammed Faisal Pehin Dato Hj Keiflie ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

Usman Ali was additionally fined $10,000 or six months in jail in default for being the unregistered vessel's master and for fishing within Brunei fisheries limit.

He failed to pay the fine and the default sentence will run concurrently with the first two charges to which he pleaded guilty earlier.

Furthermore, the Labuan-registered vessel estimated at $27,800 including fishing and navigational equipment estimated at $7,000 is to be forfeited to the state and handed over to the Director of Fisheries for disposal, added Pg Isa.

The fishing vessel was not registered in Brunei. There were no documents found in the vessel to prove the validity of its entry into Brunei waters. The Indonesians also failed to produce any valid documents, Identity Cards or a passport for entering Brunei territory legally Pg Isa told the court.

On May 1 at about 9 pm, the Marine Police and officials from Fisheries Department based in Muara, on board PDB 11 and 15 and the vessel 'Layaran' saw the vessel carrying out fishing by casting trawling net from eight nautical miles from Muara shore at Latitude 05 Degree 10.431 Min. North, Longitude 114 Degree 58.440 Min. East, which is within the Brunei territorial waters.

Pg Isa told the court that the officials saw the fishing vessel carrying out the activity without having any lights on.

Several minutes later, PDB 11 and 15 started to chase and tried to stop the intruding vessel. PDB 11 was at Starboard side of the said vessel and PDB 15 was at the Portside while 'Layaran' was at the rear stern.

On seeing the boarding parties, one of the crew of the said vessel immediately cut the ropes attached to the fishing nets.

Even though the vessel was ordered to stop by the pursuing parties, it ignored the calls, Pg Isa further revealed to the court. This resulted in the casting of ropes in front of the runaway vessel by one of the pursuing boats which eventually netted in the fishing traller. All the crew of the vessel was instructed to board PDB 15 while the captain steered the vessel back to Marine Base accompanied by some members of the boarding parties.

Pg Isa said after inspection of the fishing vessel, the five Indonesians were found on board and Usman, the captain of the boat, admitted to catching fish in the area.

The boarding parties also found fishing and navigational equipment inside the vessel. the find was later confirmed by the Fisheries Department.  -- Courtesy Of Borneo Bulletin

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