Navy sinks Thai fishing boat

Navy sinks Thai fishing boat

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Navy sank a Thai fishing boat and
arrested 11 of its crew members off the eastern coast of Sumatra
island, officers said on Friday.

Lt. Col. Teguh Wahyono, a spokesman for the Navy's Western
Fleet, said a patrol vessel arrested the crew after they were
caught fishing illegally in the waters off Riau province on
Sumatra island on Tuesday. It then fired on the vessel, the
Minabakti, and sank it.

"They stole a lot of fish there," Wahyono said.

Navy officers said they were cracking down on illegal fishing
in Indonesia's vast territorial waters. Since the beginning of
the month, the Navy has sunk or seized 12 vessels suspected of
illegal fishing.

Illegal fishing is common in the waters off Indonesia, the
world's largest archipelagic nation. The Navy often complains it
does not have the resources to patrol its thousands of kilometers
of coastline. -- AP