Thieves have been caught stealing wreckage deemed to be war graves in Indonesia

A group of men who were involved in stealing wrecks from World War I and World War II have been arrested in Indonesia. In autumn 2016, media around the world circulated information about seven wrecks that had literally disappeared from the seabed in Asian waters. Now Indonesian services have managed to catch a gang involved in stealing the wrecks and selling the metal extracted from them. We reported on the practice in one of our articles.

As it has been established, the group of Chinese stealing the wrecks used a special crane MV “Chuan Hong 68”. It should be remembered that the wrecks, which fell prey to them, are after all huge warships. Cutting them into pieces and extracting them would not have been possible without specialised heavy equipment. According to the findings, the victims of the robbers included the Japanese destroyer “Sagiri”, the passenger ships “Hiyoshi Maru” and “Katori Maru”, the steamer “Igara” and the tanker “Seven Skies”.

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This is the second time that the MV “Chuan Hong 68” has been detained by authorities on suspicion of looting wrecks. On 20 April, the Indonesian Navy stopped a crane near the Riau Islands on suspicion that the vessel was conducting illegal bottom dredging. On 22 April the crane fled to Malaysia where it was quickly apprehended by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.

[blockquote style=”2″]”I appreciate the commitment of the Malaysian authorities, in this case the Maritime Enforcement Agency, who have worked with the Indonesian Navy to stop the MV “Chuan Hong 68″,” said Susi Pudjiastuti, Indonesia’s Minister of Water and Fisheries. [/blockquote]

During the sighting of the vessel, it was possible to take photographs showing fragments of the wreck being brought out on board. The Jakarta Post reported the position of China’s foreign ministry, which claims that the MV “Chuan Hong 68 was chartered by a Malaysian company to carry out work off the coast of that country.

Illegal shipwreck stealing has become a very serious problem in recent years, affecting wrecks in the waters of northern Europe and southern Asia. All because of valuable metals, such as bronze, copper or steel. Units sunk until World War II were made of steel, melted down before the first atomic bomb tests and before the contamination of the atmosphere with radioactive isotopes. Such material is highly desirable for, among other things, the manufacture of precision scientific instruments.

The thieves are not even deterred by the fact that the stolen vessels are recognised as war graves. It can be said that more wrecks simply disappear from the seabed. This was the fate of, among others, two Dutch ships. The third was partially dismantled, just like the wrecks of HMAS “Perth”, HMS “Electra”, HMS “Exeter”, USS “Houston” and USS “Perch”.

Source:maritime-executive.com