Hundreds of foreign fishermen have been arrested and jailed this year in a major crackdown on illegal fishing in Malaysia, an official said today. "We are stepping up our monitoring, in fact, doubling our efforts," said the head of enforcement for the Fisheries Department, Abdullah Jaafar.

Since January, more than 200 foreign fishermen have been jailed for illegal fishing following reinforced patrols in the country's coastal waters, Abdullah said.

"The country loses a lot of money when these foreign boats come into our waters," Abdullah told AFP , adding that most of the offenders were from Thailand, followed by Indonesia and then China.

"So we want to show we are serious and carry out continuous operations very thoroughly."

The nationwide operation, involving marine police and other government agencies, was being carried out in coastal waters off Sabah and Sarawak states on Borneo island as well as the northeastern Terengganu and Kelantan states, he said.

Vessels confiscated

Abdullah said the total number of foreign fishing vessels detained in Malaysian waters since January this year "easily passes 20 boats", adding that each boat usually carried eight to 12 crew members on board.

"Most of those arrested so far have pleaded guilty," he said, adding that the confiscated foreign vessels were valued at an estimated one million ringgit each.

In the latest arrests, police on Thursday detained three Thai boats and a Vietnamese vessel in a pre-dawn operation and arrested 40 crew members.

Abdullah had said the fishermen would be charged "in a day or two" after investigations had been completed, adding that the suspects and their boats were in police custody.

The detainees are expected to be charged under a fisheries law which carries a maximum six months' imprisonment, or a fine of RM1 million, he said today.

The offensive against illegal fishing runs alongside the government's nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants, with thousands of migrants arrested and deported, and hundreds of homes destroyed.