Singaporean sand ship detained in Indonesian waters

Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Tanjung Balai Karimun

The Navy has nabbed a Singaporean-owned boat suspected of involvement in an illegal sand dredging operation, along with five Filipino crew members, for sailing into Indonesian waters without proper documents.

Chief of Tanjung Balai Karimun Naval Base Lt. Col. Bambang Wahyudi said on Monday the boat, which was flying the Belize flag, MV Bintang Tiga, was caught on Sunday in the Tanjung Balai Karimun waters near Batam, the Riau Islands provincial capital.

It was the first Singaporean ship seized after Indonesia declared last year it had banned sand exports to Singapore.

"After checking the boat's documents, it was revealed the boat, owned by Penta Ocean Construction Co in Singapore, was only authorized to sail from Singapore into high seas," Bambang said.

Bambang said police believed the boat was sneaking into Indonesian territory to survey islands for their potential sand.

The boat was equipped with sophisticated electronic equipment, including a digital scanners with the ability to estimate the amount of sand content in Riau coastal areas. "The boat crew have confessed the boat was about to produce a survey on prospective areas for sand dredging," Bambang said.

Bambang said the captain and crew were being held at the Tanjung Balai Karimun Naval Base for questioning. They would later be handed over to the Tanjung Balai Karimun Prosecutor's Office, he said.

Meanwhile, the boat captain, Efren M. Velarde said he was not guilty of sand dredging and said his boat had entered Indonesian waters by mistake.

Sand mining exports from Riau Islands to Singapore first began in 1976, following a plan by the island's government to start land reclamation projects

The then-legal sand export industry was later tarnished by illegal sand dredging activities in the area.

The smuggling, mostly by Singaporean-owned ships, became rampant after former president Soeharto stepped down from office in 1998.

Navy experts said ships with advanced technology, most believed to be from Singapore, often visited islands in Riau, sucked sand from their coastal areas and brought it back to Singapore for construction and reclamation projects.

The ships were reportedly able to suck up some 10,000 cubic meters of sand in an hour. They operated at night and quickly left Indonesian waters because they were afraid of capture by authorities.

The thefts normally began with survey activity, they said.

Fearing the environmental effects of uncontrolled smuggling, the government banned all sand exports from Indonesia to Singapore in February last year.