REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources (KKP) has sunk another foreign illegal fishing boat bearing an Indonesia flag in the waters around Batam Island in Sumatra's Riau Islands province.

"The sinking of the illegal boat is proof of the government's seriousness to eradicating illegal fishing and boosting sea security and the country's sovereignty," Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Susi Pudjiastuti noted in a press statement received here on Monday.

The KM Laut Natuna 28 or KM Sudhita vessel, weighing 60 gross tons from Thailand, was sunk after it was found conducting illegal fishing in the waters around Natuna in Riau Islands.

"In view of that, and in line with the law, special law enforcement actions including destruction or sinking may be taken against it," she remarked in the statement.

The ship was sunk in the waters of the Dempo Strait around 60 nautical miles from Batam.

The KM Laut Natuna 28 was caught by the KP Hiu 009 patrol vessel at 4 p.m. local time, on October 30, 2014, in the Natuna waters in Riau Islands with Thai skipper Sangwian Srison (46) and 11 crew on board from Thailand while illegally fishing using a trawler in the waters. A total of 100 kilograms of various species of fish were found on board the ship.

Based on the court's ruling issued on January 5, 2015, Sangwian Srisom was sentenced to three years imprisonment and fined Rp500 million, stated Asep Burhanudin, the director general of sea resources and fishery supervision.

If Srisom failed to pay the fine, he will have to spend three additional months in jail, he revealed.

The court also ruled that KM Laut Natuna 28 was confiscated and would be sunk in accordance with the law, he added.

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