Nusa Dua, Bali (ANTARA) – The Indonesian Government took the bilateral route to resolve the recent arrests of Aceh fishermen by Thai authorities for allegedly entering the neighboring country’s maritime territory illegally.”It was resolved bilaterally regarding fishermen arrested in Thailand,” Minister of Law and Human RightsYasonna H. Laolyinformed in Nusa Dua, Badung District, Bali, on Friday.
ccording to him, similar cases, including those with Myanmar, can be resolved bilaterally.
However, he did not provide further details on the bilateral efforts taken to resolve the arrests of the fishermen from Aceh.
“Fishermen arrested in Thailand and other countries where there are fishermen are processed in our country, this will be resolved bilaterally,” he informed.
Thai authorities arrested 40 fishermen from East Aceh district earlier this month.
This was the second such case after the arrests of 29 other fishermen on August 26, 2023.
Chairperson of Panglima Laot AcehMiftach Tjut Adeksaid that the 40 fishermen came from Idi Harbor in East Aceh and were on board three different fishing boats.
There were 12 fishermen on board the Rahmad Jaya Motor Boat (KM), which had a capacity of 29 gross tonnage (GT), 16 on KM Iklas Baru (24 GT), and 2 on KM Kambia Star (25 GT).
“Three ships moving from Idi Port, East Aceh, were caught 75.8 nautical miles from Phuket, Thailand,” he said in Banda Aceh on October 9.
The Aceh fishermen were immediately taken to Prom Lam Thep Chelong Police for further processing.
Earlier, on August 26, a total of 29 fishermen from Aceh on board 2 fishing boats were also arrested by Thai authorities on the suspicion they had breached the country’s maritime territorial boundaries.
ll underwent trials in Thailand and were slapped with fines varying from 3 thousand to 5 thousand baht, or around Rp2.1 million per person.
Source: Antara News Agency