Global Courant 2023-05-29 14:34:28
Malaysia’s maritime agency says it has detained a China-registered vessel on suspicion of plundering two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea
This undated photo, released by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) on Monday, May 29, 2023, shows scrap metal and an old cannonball on a China-registered ship after being detained by MMEA in East Johor waters. The Malaysian maritime agency said Monday it has found a gun shell, believed to be from World War II, on a Chinese-registered ship and is investigating whether the barge was involved in the looting of two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea. (Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency via AP)
The associated press
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — The Malaysian maritime agency said Monday it has found a gun shell, believed to be from World War II, on a Chinese-registered ship and is investigating whether the barge was involved in the looting of two British warship wrecks in the South China Sea.
Malaysian media reported that illegal salvage operators allegedly targeted HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales, which were sunk by Japanese torpedoes in 1941, days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
A total of 842 sailors died and the shipwrecks off the coast of the central state of Pahang have been designated as war graves. Fishermen and divers alerted authorities after seeing a foreign vessel near the area last month.
The agency said it detained the ship registered in Fuzhou, China, on Sunday because it anchored in the southern state of Johor without a permit. There were 32 crew members on board, including 21 Chinese, 10 from Bangladesh and a Malaysian.
The agency said officials from the National Heritage Department and others will work together to identify the cannonball.
Britain’s National Museum of the Royal Navy said last week it was “disturbed and concerned by the apparent vandalism for personal gain”.
The maritime agency said it believed the rusty cannon shell was linked to police seizing dozens of unexploded artillery and other relics from a private scrapyard in Johor. The New Straits Times newspaper reported that the ammunition was believed to have come from the warships and that police on the scene staged a controlled explosion of the weapons.
Photos and a video released by the agency showed a barge with a large crane and mounds of rusty metal on board. The material from the two warships, known as pre-war steel, is valuable and can be melted down for use in the manufacture of certain scientific and medical equipment.
It wasn’t the first time the two shipwrecks had been targeted.
The New Straits Times reported that in 2015 foreign treasure hunters used homemade explosives to detonate the heavy steel plates on the ships for easy picking. Other media said authorities at the time detained a Vietnamese ship involved in looting the wreck.
