The Royal Thai Navy on Saturday arrested eight crew members on three Vietnamese fishing boats for fishing in Thai waters.
The arrest was made around 10am in waters southeast of Koh Juang in Sattahip district of Chon Buri province, according to Rear Admiral Banchobe Pohdaeng, commander of Royal Thai Navy Region 1 and director of the Thai Marine Enforcement Command Centre.
A navy patrol ship located the three ships earlier in the morning. Once the crews of the ships saw the navy boat approaching, they tried to flee the scene.
One of the vessels used a Thai name and carried a Thai flag in order to dupe officials. Initial interrogations found that all eight of the crew members are Vietnamese and that the ships had departed from Phu Quoc, Vietnam.
The eight were charged with violating the 1939 Act Governing the Right to Fish in Thai Fishery Waters and the Fisheries Act of 2015.
Rear Adm Banchobe said the government would contact the Vietnamese embassy for the repatriation of the fishermen.
Since October last year, officials have seized 23 boats and arrested 63 crew members in 10 separate cases of illegal fishing by Vietnamese fishermen.
