KOTA KINABALU: A boat's captain was nabbed in waters off Tawau for ferrying controlled goods illegally.

The 37-year-old was manning a cargo boat near the CIQ Jetty Tawau when maritime officials conducting Ops Khas Pagar Laut and Ops Tiris approached to make an inspection on Tuesday (April 16) afternoon.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) zone director for Tawau Maritime Captain Shahrizan Raman said upon inspection, they found 200kg of rice, 10 packets of cooking oil, 204kg of refined sugar, three gallons of petrol and three LPG gas cylinders on board.

“The man failed to produce any trading licence for the rice and did not have any customs declaration documents for the other items found in the 1.15pm raid,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (April 17).

A maritime official inspecting the vessel.

He said the captain, seized items and boat were brought back to the Tawau Maritime jetty for further investigations and added that all confiscated goods and the boat were worth about RM27,000.

He said to avoid enforcement from detecting these illegal trading activities, suspects would ferry their items in small amounts, going back and forth from their supplier to the intended destination.

“We have to work hard to prevent these kinds of trading and transactions to curb cross border crimes and smuggling,” said Shahrizan.

Shahrizan said maritime patrol units will always be ready and prepared to face any situations.

The public can contact the Tawau maritime operations centre at 089-750116 or MERS 999 if they know of or suspect any suspicious activities going on in the area.