The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency announced on Saturday that two tankers suspected of illegal'ship-to ship oil transfers' were detained last week and that more than 512 million ringgit (US$129.9m) of crude oil was seized. This occurred 24 nautical miles west from Muka Head in Penang.

The agency didn't specify the origin of?oil that was being transferred.

The waters near Malaysia are well-known as a "regular location for illegal ship to ship transfers", where oil is transferred between tankers at sea in order to conceal its origin. Malaysian authorities announced in July of last year that they would enforce the rules more strictly.

The 53 crew members of the seized tankers were Chinese, Burmese and Iranian. They also included Pakistanis, Indians, Pakistanis, and Pakistanis. The agency said that the two captains were arrested and turned over to Penang maritime investigation officials.

The tankers were checked after a patrol boat had received a complaint about 1 am local time on Thursday. The ships were in a coupled state and suspected of transferring cargo.

The captain said that the tankers were being investigated for illegally transferring goods from one vessel to another, which is punishable by a fine of 100,000 ringgit.

(source: Reuters)