JAKARTA: Officers from the Riau Islands Police’s water police unit (Polair) arrested Malaysian-flagged tanker MT Urban Success, carrying 800,000 kiloliters of diesel fuel, in Lingga waters on Friday.
The vessel was allegedly transporting fuel from Palembang, South Sumatra, to Singapore without proper documents, an action that had the potential to inflict almost Rp 10 billion (US$770,000) in financial losses on the state.
Riau Islands Police chief Brig. Gen. Arman Depari said here the other day that the Urban Success was the police’s biggest ship arrest in the last two years. “We had been monitoring the vessel for two weeks before the arrest. This is the biggest fuel-smuggling vessel we have busted in the past two years,” said Arman.
He said the police were focused on eliminating a number of criminal practices in Riau Islands.
The captain of the 740-gross ton Urban Success has been identified only as YS, the ship had a crew of seven.
The vessel, its captain and crew have been taken into custody at the Polair headquarters for further questioning.
