RI navy storms Croatian ship, detains crew
RI navy storms Croatian ship, detains crew
Victor Tjahjadi, Agence France-Presse/Jakarta
The Indonesian Navy on Tuesday stormed a Croatian merchant ship
and detained around 25 crew after a long-running court battle,
Croatia's ambassador Aleksandar Broz said, describing the move as
illegal.
About 200 navy personnel stormed the ship at Surabaya port in
East Java province at about 10:00 am (0300 GMT) after
negotiations aimed at allowing it to leave Indonesian waters
stalled, the ambassador told AFP.
"This morning, 200 Indonesian navy stormed the ship and took
it over. They were even targeting the captain with a gun at his
head asking him to sign papers," Broz said. "From our side, the
complete action is illegal."
Twelve armed men remained on the ship, the M/V Mirna, late
Tuesday and he was awaiting an explanation from the Indonesian
foreign ministry, he said.
"The embassy expresses its astonishment at the behavior of the
Indonesian executive authorities," said a later statement from
the mission.
In Zagreb the Croatian foreign ministry also condemned
Indonesia's seizure.
"We are surprised by this beaver... which is in complete
contradiction with the official policies defended by that
country," it said in a statement.
Indonesian navy spokesman First Admiral Malik Yusuf said only
10 sailors boarded the ship to enforce an appeal court ruling
issued Monday which found that the ship was involved in illegal
logging and should be handed over to the Jakarta government.
The ship was first stopped by the Indonesian navy in Papua in
August last year after loading logs and was found to have
incorrect papers. The captain was tried and fined around 2,200
dollars in April, the embassy statement said.
"After paying the fine, the ship and the captain were freed
and the navy was obliged to follow the ship into international
waters," the ambassador told AFP. "They tried to get papers for
the ship to sail but found obstruction from all possible sides."
The dispute widened to include allegations of illegal logging
which the ambassador said should have been dealt with months ago
while the captain was waiting to stand trial.
A meeting of government ministers and officials on Saturday
resulted in the foreign ministry proposing that the company pay
Rp 10 billion (US$1 million) to allow the ship to leave, the
embassy said.
"In the meantime a navy vessel and two speedboats circled
around the vessel at anchor, targeting it with artillery and
machine guns for half an hour and then left," the ambassador
said.
Navy spokesman Malik Yusuf said the navy was asked to provide
"assistance" to board the ship by the court and attorney-
general's office.
"Officials went to the ship with a copy of the appeal court
ruling and asked the crew to sign the letter. They refused to do
that because they wanted to wait for their lawyers and officials
from the embassy to witness it," he said.
No violence had taken place, he said. The Indonesian foreign
ministry declined to comment.
While it is not clear where the ship is alleged to have been
taking the timber, environmental investigators say that timber
smuggling from Papua to China is the world's largest logging
racket.
The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency alleges
that illegal logging in Papua involves Indonesian military and
civilian officials, Malaysian logging gangs and multinational
companies as well as brokers in Singapore and dealers in Hong
Kong.