Indonesia seizes two Singapore tugboats
By Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja , INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT
JAKARTA: The Indonesian Navy has impounded two Singaporean-flagged tugboats for illegally carrying granite rocks off the Riau Islands, officials said.
Indonesia's Batam naval base, tasked with investigating the case, is holding the tugboats and the crew in custody, Navy spokesman Commodore Iskandar Sitompul said.
The base is holding 'Singaporean-flagged tugboats, but there are no Singaporean crew members on board', he said in a text message reply to The Straits Times.
All eight crew members, who are being held for the investigation, are Indonesian nationals, according to Commodore Iskandar. The two tugboats, Samwoh Pride and Samwoh Glory, were intercepted while carrying a total of 3,776 tonnes of granite rocks in Batu Ampar waters in the Riau Islands province.
The granite rocks were taken from Tanjung Balai Karimun.
The crew of both the tugboats failed to show the necessary documents enabling them to move the granite rocks, worth an estimated eight billion rupiah (S$1.2 million), out of Indonesian territory.
Naval patrol officers noticed one of the tugboats when it collided with a buoy in Batu Ampas waters. The officers approached the two vessels and then escorted them to the Batam naval base.
Indonesia permits granite exports, but maintains that it needs to regulate the shipment of the material to guard against damage to the environment. Politicians have complained in the past about excessive granite mining in Indonesian islands including Bintan and Karimun.
By Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja , INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT
JAKARTA: The Indonesian Navy has impounded two Singaporean-flagged tugboats for illegally carrying granite rocks off the Riau Islands, officials said.
Indonesia's Batam naval base, tasked with investigating the case, is holding the tugboats and the crew in custody, Navy spokesman Commodore Iskandar Sitompul said.
The base is holding 'Singaporean-flagged tugboats, but there are no Singaporean crew members on board', he said in a text message reply to The Straits Times.
All eight crew members, who are being held for the investigation, are Indonesian nationals, according to Commodore Iskandar. The two tugboats, Samwoh Pride and Samwoh Glory, were intercepted while carrying a total of 3,776 tonnes of granite rocks in Batu Ampar waters in the Riau Islands province.
The granite rocks were taken from Tanjung Balai Karimun.
The crew of both the tugboats failed to show the necessary documents enabling them to move the granite rocks, worth an estimated eight billion rupiah (S$1.2 million), out of Indonesian territory.
Naval patrol officers noticed one of the tugboats when it collided with a buoy in Batu Ampas waters. The officers approached the two vessels and then escorted them to the Batam naval base.
Indonesia permits granite exports, but maintains that it needs to regulate the shipment of the material to guard against damage to the environment. Politicians have complained in the past about excessive granite mining in Indonesian islands including Bintan and Karimun.