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Malaysian authorities have detained four vessels along the coast of Tanjung Piai for the illegal transfer of marine fuel, local sources report.

According to Malaysia's The Star, The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency detained the vessels in two separate incidents, the first of which occurred on Saturday 16th January during an operation called Ops Perkasa Selatan.

Two ships were spotted anchored close to eachother approximately 3.5 miles off Penggerang, southeast Johor. Upon closer investigation, the Korea-registered MT Rimba was reported to have transferred 30,000 litres of marine fuel to the MT Sea Goddess, registered in Tarawa, Kiribati.

During questioning, the captain of the MT Rimba is said to have revealed that the ship received marine fuel from a neighbouring country and had set off in the morning to transfer its load to the MT Sea Goddess.

Operation Chief Laksamana Pertama Datuk Che Hassan Jusoh said their investigations revealed that the MT Goddess had also been acting as a vendor of bunker fuel to other vessels in the area.

In a separate Enforcement Agency operation entitled Ops Satria Selatan, two other vessels were said to have been spotted carrying out the same offence approximately 4.4 nautical miles off the coast of Tanjung Piai.

During an initial investigation, the MT Millennium 1 was found to have transferred approximately 20,000 litres of marine fuel, or half of its load, to MT Onsys Leo.

The MT Onsys Leo was registered in Port Klang, Malaysia whilst the MT Millennium 1 was registered in Tarawa, Kiribati.

In total, 42 crew members were detained by Malaysian authorities, 31 of which were from Indonesia, two from Singapore and nine from Myanmar.