Vietnam's fishing vessel nabbed for trespassing into Thai waters

CHON BURI, THAILAND, November 26 (TNA) - Thailand's First Navy Area Command (NAC1) has arrested a Vietnamese fishing boat for trespassing into and illegal fishing in the Thai territorial waters. Deputy Navy Chief of Staff, Region 1, Samrerng Chanso told journalists on Thursday that he was assigned by NAC1 Commander Vice Admiral Rangsarit Sattayanukul, who is also Chief of Thailand's Maritime Enforcement Coordinating Centre (MECC) 1, to patrol the sea on board the HTMS Rattanakosin to prevent any illegal trespass into the Thai territorial waters and found the Vietnamese fishing vessel during the patrol. The deputy regional navy chief of staff reported that the Vietnamese fishing boat was illegally entering into the Thai territorial waters at a distance of about 27 nautical miles from Kood Island in the eastern Trat Province and was then intercepted, together with its 4 crew members, while the seized Vietnamese vessel was then docked at the Royal Thai Fleet in Sattahip District of nearby Chon Buri Province. The Vietnamese crew members were then taken to the Sattahip Police Station for prosecution on charges of trespassing into the Thai waters and violating the Thai Fishing Rights Act. After an interrogation, captain of the seized Vietnamese ship, Nguyen Tae, said that his ship left Vietnam 15 days ago to fish for squids and sea snakes in the Thai waters in order to sell them in China. (TNA)