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Two Singapore-owned vessels have been impounded by Malaysian maritime security authorities after being caught carrying out a marine fuel cargo transfer near the coast of Pengerang, Southeast Johor, Malaysia on Friday, news agency Antara reports.

First Admiral Che Hassan Jusoh, Southern region maritime agency enforcement chief, said the tankers MT City Group and Marina 99 were detained after being spotted carrying out suspicious activities.

Both ships were anochored next to eachother approximately three nautical miles south of Tanjung Setapa.

An inspection discovered that approximately 290,000 liters of marine fuel had been transferred from the MT City Group to the Marina 99.

The fuel transfer operation is also said to have caused an oil spill in surrounding waters.

Both ship captains and crew members, including 19 Indonesians and one Indian national, were detained.

The two ships are registered in San Lorenzo, Honduras, and are both owned by a Singapore-registered company.

They were detained for illegally transferring fuel, not following bunkering regulations, having safety boats with expired usage dates, failing to produce shipping documents and failing to pay duty charges.