Chinese fishing boat fitted with anti-boarding spikes fails to evade Taiwan coast guard
Taiwan’s Coast Guard intercepted a Chinese fishing vessel operating illegally in waters near the Penghu Islands yesterday, and the boat was fitted with spikes designed to prevent boarding.
Coast guard patrol boat #5053 was dispatched at 5:00 am, September 5, after a suspicious vessel was detected on radar. The crew of the patrol boat intercepted the Chinese-registered fishing boat 22.4 nautical miles southwest of Hua Islet.
When the coast guard approached the vessel, it was noticed that three long steel pipes with sharp spikes protruded from the side of the boat.
Coast guard personnel still managed to board the vessel via the stern to arrest the crew of 10. Around 1,000 kilograms of catch was disposed of at sea, and the ship was towed back to Magong Harbor.
The ship’s crew all tested negative for coronavirus, and will face charges for violating regulations of “People’s Relations between the Taiwan Region and the Mainland Region.”
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