TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Batam Customs and Excise arrested one tanker, the MT Zakira, which was suspected of smuggling 600,000 liters of High Speed Diesel (HSD) diesel oil. The ship was secured when it entered the waters of Karimun Besar Island, Riau Islands Province (Kepri), Sunday, September 25.

On September 20, authorities received reports from the public that a tanker from Tanjung Uncang, Batam City—suspected of carrying oil—was heading out of the customs area without documents.

The Sriwijaya Sea Patrol Task Force chased the ship and checked its cargo, but found it to be empty. It was sailing with the aim of clearance from Batam to Probolinggo. "Because we found nothing suspicious, the ship was released while we continued to monitor using radar," said Rizki.

Throughout the monitoring from September 20 -25, the MT Zakira was last detected east of the Teluk Penawar in Malaysian waters. Radar monitoring also showed that many ships approached MT Zakira, raising suspicions that there were illegal ship-to-ship (STS) trading activities of diesel oil.

The tanker, said Rizki, then moved west from Pangerang and entered the waters of Malaysia and Singapore, before entering the waters of Karimun Besar Island. "We inspected the ship again," he said.

The temporary results of inspection based on information from the ship's captain, MT Zakira brought 600 kiloliters of HSD diesel oil from STS in Malaysian waters. "There are no documents for importing diesel from Malaysia to Tanjung Balai Karimun," he said.

After inspection, the MT Zakira tanker was brought to anchor in the waters of Janda Berhias Island for further inspection. "The results of the preliminary examination, based on witness statements, we have identified two suspects: MI the captain, and AZ the helmsman," said Rizki.

YOGI EKA SAHPUTRA

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