KL fines 39 RI fishermen

Mon, 11 Mar 2002 | Source: AP

MALAYSIA: A court on Sunday convicted 39 Indonesian fishermen of illegally entering Malaysia last year in an incident that caused Jakarta to protest the use of force by the Malaysian navy.

The Indonesians, on trial since June, were found guilty of illegally fishing in a trawler near Malaysia's northwest Langkawi island and attempting to flee enforcement officials who arrested them on Feb. 1, 2001.

Magistrate Zaimey Ghazali at the court in Langkawi said the defense failed to cast reasonable doubt on the prosecution's case, the national news agency Bernama reported.

He fined the crew's skipper 200,000 ringgit (US$52,631) and the other men 10,000 ringgit ($2,632) each for illegal fishing. All were fined an additional 5,000 ringgit ($1,316) for resisting arrest. --AP

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