HAIWEIGONG889

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Company involved in more illegal plundering activities

While the "Hai Wei Gong 889" has been detained and impounded by the northern region Marine Depart­ment in Lumut. The firm involved in the illegal salvage of shipwrecks off Penang has also scooped up more than RM20mil worth of scrap material from another wreckage in Negri Sembilan. The company had taken scrap metal and billets from the wreckage near Cape Rachado, off Tanjung Tuan in Negri Sembilan over the past two years. Aside from removing scrap metal from shipwrecks in the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, the Subang Jaya-based company was also involved in salvaging billets, metal products, sunken treasures and artefacts from older wrecks that had sunk in the cape. Indergith Singh, personal assistant to Tunku Datuk Kamil Ikram, who was given the rights to salvage the "Vikraman", which sunk in the cape in September 1997, and to recover the billets from the vessel, said the firm had plundered the assets while they were applying for the power of attorney from PE Global, the ship’s insurer, to recover the goods. The "Vikraman" was carrying RM40mil worth of billets and metal products when the ship broke into two after colliding with another vessel. In the incident, 29 on board the India-resistered ship perished. The Company finally received the power of attorney from the Kuala Lumpur High Court on April 7, 2014. However, the billets from the shipwreck had been illegally removed since July 2013 by the company. The company sold the RM20mil loot to a smelting plant in Klang. Yatim De Valda, a historian, worked with the Subang company to identify 37 wrecks off the same coast in 2012 but decided to leave when he found the company did not have proper documents. He left when the company removed scrap metal from athe British SS "Straits Steamer", which sank after being torpedoed by the Japanese Imperial Navy in 1941. The ship was carrying British families fleeing Singapore when the war broke out as Japanese soldiers invaded Malaya. The number of casualties on the ship was unknown but Yatim, who had dived at the wreck, found old bottles and clothing for children and babies in the wreck. Yatim, said there were 37 archaeological shipwrecks sited at Cape Rachardo, some dating as far back as the 16th century and more than 20 commercial vessels and warships that had sunk during World War II and more recently. The Marine De­­partment had obtained a court order to detain the skipper and the nine Chinese nationals who had operated the "Hai Wei Gong 889".

Crane ship impounded for looting of historic wrecks

The "Hai Wei Gong 889" that illegally stripped shipwrecks off Penang island for scrap metal has been detained and impounded by the northern region Marine Depart­ment. There was a mountain of rusty ship parts and salvage work was in progress when the agency’s officials boarded the ship off Kendi Island. The agency had been alerted about the illegal operation after the salvage work was discovered last week. The vessel was caught red-handed dredging the "Chosa Maru". The skipper and his nine-man crew, all Chinese nationals, have been arrested. Aside from seizing the ship, the authorities impounded a workboat that accompanied The "Hai Wei Gong 889". The crew did not have the documents for salvage work and was operating illegally in Malaysian waters. The ship, workboat and its crew had been ordered to sail to Lumut, where the ship was impounded on May 23, 2014. The authorities also investigated where the vessel had disposed the scrap metal after salvaging at least five shipwrecks off Penang, including the two Japanese World War II wrecks. The authorities were investigating who the buyer of the scrap metal was. The department was also investigating how long the ship had operated in Malaysian waters illegally and whether it had looted other areas besides Penang and if had plundered other ships, both commercial and military, off the east and west coast of Malaysia. The illegal salvagers had plundered scrap metal from at least five shipwrecks, including two Japanese World War II vessels, off Penang waters since early in 2014, and their activities had gone undetected by the authorities. The unscrupulous salvagers were believed to have cleared up at least two wrecks – the Japanese gunboat "Chosa Maru", called Kapal Jepun by locals, which sank in August 1943, and the Japanese light cruiser "Kuma" that went down on January 1944 – and had taken away metal worth millions. The other three wrecks that have been plundered were the Japanese warships "Haguro", "Kapal Taiwan" and "Kapal Simen", which are all located off Kendi Island. Report with photo: http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/05/23/Sea-salvage-work-halted-Dept-sinks-its-teeth-into-vessel-illegally-stripping-wrecks-for-scrap/