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MMEA: Warship wrecks in Malaysian waters safe thanks to heightened patrols
MMEA: Warship wrecks in Malaysian waters safe thanks to heightened patrols

New Straits Times

time29-07-2025

  • General
  • New Straits Times

MMEA: Warship wrecks in Malaysian waters safe thanks to heightened patrols

KUANTAN: There have been no reports of scavengers looting sunken World War 2 warships in Malaysian waters over the past two years due to increased patrols by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA). MMEA director-general Admiral Datuk Mohd Rosli Abdullah said the agency had intensified patrols around the sites of sunken warships within the country's territorial waters. "I can say the number of cases is zero because we (MMEA) conduct regular monitoring. Our patrol vessels and boats are out at sea monitoring all the shipwreck sites.... the last arrest was recorded in Johor in 2023. "We have made several arrests in the past and recovered scrap metal believed to have been stolen from these wrecks. Now, we constantly patrol the sites to prevent any attempts by scavengers to enter them," he said after launching MMEA's Sekolah Angkat Madani initiative at SMK Sungai Baging here today. Rosli said the strict enforcement efforts were also in response to strong interest from foreign maritime agencies, which were keen to know how MMEA was protecting the shipwrecks. He was responding to a question about whether illegal salvage operators were still operating in Malaysian waters and if there had been any reports in the past two years. In 2023, MMEA detained a foreign-registered grab dredger for looting steel and high-grade aluminium from World War 2-era shipwrecks, including the HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, off the coast of Pahang. The vessel was seized in Johor. On the Sekolah Angkat Madani programme, Rosli said SMK Sungai Baging was chosen due to its strategic location near the Sultan Ahmad Shah Maritime Academy in Sungai Ular. He said the school, which established the Malaysian Maritime Cadet Team (Paskam) in early 2020, currently had 110 members and six of its teachers had joined the Malaysian Maritime Volunteer Reserve unit. "We now have a total of 586 Paskam members, including those from Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Universiti Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah and SMK Sungai Baging. "Joining Paskam provides early exposure for students to the maritime field and prepares them to join the Maritime Volunteer Reserve unit. This gives them an advantage if they choose to pursue a career with the MMEA," he said.

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