RP navy detains fishing boats

RP navy detains fishing boats

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP): The Philippine navy detained
four Malaysian fishing boats for poaching and dynamite fishing in
waters off the southern province of Tawi-Tawi, officials said
yesterday.

The four trawlers were discovered Thursday near Clotilde Rock
off Baguhan island in Tawi-Tawi and were towed by the navy to the
provincial capital of Bongao, said Commodore Adolf Borje, chief
of the naval forces in the southern Philippines. The boats were
owned by Malaysian nationals, he said.

The fishermen will be turned over to the regional police
committee on illegal entrants, he added, without saying how many
were being held.

Tawi-Tawi is close to Sabah, an east Malaysian state claimed
by the Philippines on historical grounds.