The Malaysian coast guard said on Tuesday that authorities were questioning the crew of a Chinese ship detained on suspicion of looting two British World War Two shipwrecks.
Officials discovered unexploded shells while boarding the Chinese-registered ship Chuan 68, which was detained for illegal anchoring over the weekend, said Nurul Hizam Zakaria, head of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency in Johor state.
The wrecks of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse are designated as official war graves under the Protection of Wrecks Act 1973 and the Protection of Shipping Relations Act 1986, and are not to be disturbed.
‘Our investigation now turns to where these cannon shells originated. Right now, we have officers from various agencies searching the large ship,” he told AFP.
Nurul Hizam said the Fuzhou city boat had a crew of 32, including 21 Chinese nationals, 10 Bangladeshis and one Malaysian, some of whom were in coast guard custody for questioning.
The British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales was sunk in 1941 by Japanese torpedoes.
1939: HMS Repulse, a 26,500-ton British Renown-class battlecruiser at Portsmouth
“This case also involves the discovery of explosives,” he said.
China’s foreign ministry said the Chinese embassy in Malaysia was in close communication with local authorities “to understand the situation.”
He called on Malaysia to handle the case “fairly and in accordance with the law.” Beijing also called on Malaysia to protect the rights and security of Chinese citizens.
A senior Malaysian maritime official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the pieces of metal and shells could have come from the two sunken British warships.
More than 800 British sailors were killed when HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were torpedoed by Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea.
The December 10, 1941 attack occurred three days after Japan attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Photos and a video shared by the Malaysian coast guard showed large pieces of corroded metal and shells, as well as a large crane and gas torches used to cut metal on board the ship.
The shells could also be linked to the discovery of World War II-era unexploded ordnance at a jetty in Johor on May 19, the maritime agency said in a statement on Monday.
Nurul Hizam said the maritime agency would not tolerate any form of illegal salvage activities in Malaysian waters.
“Our national treasure must be protected and preserved,” he said, describing the looting as “an uncivilized act.”
Britain’s Defense Ministry has condemned the ‘desecration’ of maritime military graves following reports that scavengers had attacked the two World War Two shipwrecks, the BBC said on Saturday.
News of the looting of the ship outraged Admiral Lord Alan West, a former head of the Royal Navy, who lost 22 men when his frigate HMS Ardent sank during the Falklands War in 1982.
Exploiting ‘grave robbers’ for scrap metal, the former military chief told MailOnline: ‘This is an absolute disgrace.
‘These are burial sites with all the bodies still there. These Chinese saboteurs or junk dealers don’t give a damn about this.
It’s a disgusting thing to do. It is very distressing for the families and relatives of the sailors killed on HMS Repulse and HMS Prince of Wales.
‘When I think about my sunken ship in the Falklands, I don’t want people to dive into it and take things from it. This is a disgusting thing to happen.
And another former Royal Navy First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, told MailOnline: “These people are scavengers of the worst order.”
The crew of the Chuan 68 are well known as illegal scavengers.
They were temporarily detained in 2017 amid allegations that they had collected parts from three World War II Japanese shipwrecks near Usukan, Malaysia, before the ship was intercepted by the Indonesian navy while trying to recover parts from a wreck near the Anambas Islands. , forcing the Chuan 68. to flee into international waters.
The ship is also known for illegally salvaging World War II shipwrecks in the waters off Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Chaun 68 is still wanted by the Indonesian authorities for looting the wreckage of the sunken Dutch warships HNLMS De Ruyter, HNLMS Java and HNLMS Kortenaer in the Java Sea.
A source told the New Straits Times that the Chinese ship is well known among the shipping community for its looting activities, which have been ongoing for about 10 years.
The crew climb over the side of HMS Prince of Wales before it sinks. The Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse were sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy land bombers and torpedo boats on 10 December 1941.
The British Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales, H 12911, anchored in an undisclosed naval port ca. 1941
‘Ten years ago, it looked like a dilapidated barge. But now it is equipped with high-tech equipment,’ the source said.
“They operate mechanically and entirely from the surface of the barge, which is equipped with cranes sporting huge metal claws.
The claws can dive deeper than 200 m. Chop up the ship and extract hundreds of tons of metal in one fell swoop.
The source said the vessel would evade detection by turning off its Global Positioning System (GPS) and Wi-Fi devices on board before hiding.
The coast off Indonesia and Malaysia is littered with World War II-era shipwrecks, and Chinese-owned barges equipped with cranes have been conducting illegal operations in the war cemeteries of ships belonging to several countries, including Britain, Japan, the Netherlands, India and Australia.
Scavengers are attracted to high-value non-irradiated steel, also known as low-bottom steel, from the wreck.
Steel produced before the detonation of the first atomic bombs in the 1940s, particularly the high-quality steel used in the manufacture of warship hulls, is not contaminated by radiation.
It retains its quality long after being submerged underwater and is highly sought after by manufacturers of surgical implements and scientific equipment.
China’s scavengers can melt down the steel they manage to salvage and sell it for huge profits.
HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are seen in the background sinking
A total of 10 British ships were sunk by Japanese torpedoes and aircraft in 1941 and 1942 off the Malaysian and Indonesian coasts, killing more than 1,000 sailors.
HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, accompanied by four UK destroyers, were tasked with intercepting Japanese invasion convoys in the South China Sea in December 1941.
But the ships put to sea without air cover and the fleet was attacked by waves of Japanese aircraft, with eight torpedoes hitting their targets.
Both ships capsized when they sank: the wreck of the Repulse lies at a depth of 183 feet, with the Prince of Wales even deeper at 223 feet.
In 2018, Britain’s former Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson ordered Royal Navy inspection ships to examine the wreckage of British warships previously looted by pirates.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said it was in contact with local authorities following the latest looting of the wreck.
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