Turtles seized from Chinese ship

KOTA KINABALU: More than 100 endangered sea turtles were seized from a China-registered trawler which encroached into Malaysian waters off Labuan.

Labuan Fisheries Department director Bohari Leng said 20 turtles and four sharks, which were still alive on the trawler, were released into the sea near Pulau Papan.

All 11 Chinese crewmembers, aged between 17 and 55, were detained after the vessel was intercepted by the department's personnel on patrol about 25 nautical miles from Tanjong Kubong at 11.40am on Sunday.

Bohari said the crewmembers from Hainan in China had been handed over to the police while awaiting a remand order to facilitate investigations.