YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. Sept 24 (Interfax-AVN) - The Sakhalin prosecutor's office has permitted the Sakhalin coast guard department of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to open a criminal case against Lee In Ken, the captain of a Korean fishing boat, on charges of poaching.
Maritime border guards detained the Chung Yong 62 fishing boat near the Southern Kurils on Monday, the prosecutor's office told Interfax on Wednesday.
"It was established in a preliminary check that the captain of this fishing boat fished in Russia's exclusive economic zone in line with a protocol of the 17th meeting of the Russian-South-Korean commission for fishery on dated December 7, 2007," the prosecutor's office said.
Russian border guards checked the ship when it completed fishing and was about to leave the Russia economic zone, it said. There were some 13 tonnes of poached cod and no less than six tonnes of cod products in addition to legally caught fish, the prosecutor's office said.
The ship was escorted to the port of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. "Legally caught fish were loaded onto a transport vessel provided by the Korean side in order to avoid inflicting damage to the South Korean company. The ship delivered the products to the destination port. The Chung Yong 62 fishing boat was escorted to the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk port," the prosecutor's office said.