SONGKHLA: Marine police on Thursday seized two Vietnamese fishing boats and arrested 11 crew members in the waters off the southern provinces of Pattani and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Pol Lt Col Nathapong Takaew, deputy chief of the Songkhla-based Marine Police Sub-division 7, said on Friday that the first boat was apprehended around 2pm by a marine police team approximately 80 nautical miles east of the Songkhla navigation floating light.
This boat, with five crewmen on board, was found catching sea cucumbers near Ko Losin island in Pattani.
Shortly after the first seizure, another Vietnamese fishing boat with six crew members was captured by a different marine police team in the sea about 44 nautical miles east of the Songkhla navigation floating light, near Ko Kra island in Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Both boats were subsequently taken to the marine police boat pier in Muang district of Songkhla province.
The 11 crew members have been charged with violating the Fisheries Act of 2015, the Immigration Act of 1979 and the Navigation in the Thai Waters Act of 2003.
Marine officers inspect a Vietnamese fishing boat. (Photo supplied / Assawin Pakkawan)