Malaysia has detained a Chinese-registered vessel suspected of looting two British World War Two shipwrecks.
The bulk carrier was seized on Sunday for anchoring illegally at the site in the South China Sea.
Ammunition
believed to be from the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, which were
sunk by Japanese forces more than 80 years ago, was then found on
board.
Old
shipwrecks are targeted by scavengers for their rare low-background
steel, also known as "pre-war steel". The low radiation in the steel
makes it a rare and valuable resource for use in medical and scientific
equipment.
The
British vessels, on the bed of the ocean some 100km (60 miles) off the
east coast of Malaysia, had been targeted for decades.
The
Royal Navy battleships were dispatched to Singapore during the war to
shore up the defence of Malaya. They were sunk by Japanese torpedoes on
10 December 1941.
The
strike - which occurred just three days after the attack on the US
fleet in Pearl Harbour - killed some 842 sailors and is considered one
of the worst disasters in British naval history.
Fishermen and divers first reported the presence of the foreign vessel to Malaysia authorities last month.
Local
maritime police detained the Chinese ship on Sunday. The ship,
registered in Fuzhou, had 32 crew on board, the Malaysian Maritime
Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said in a statement.
Cannon
shells "suspected to be from World War Two" were uncovered during a
search of the vessel. Malaysian agencies are also investigating the
provenance of the ammunition.
The
MMEA added that it is linked to a cache of unexploded artillery, said
to be from the two sunken vessels, that police seized from a private
scrap yard in the southern state of Johor earlier this month.
In
2017, during a tour of Malaysia, a local diver showed the then Prince
Charles images that documented damage to the HMS Prince of Wales
inflicted by scavengers.
The
Defence Secretary at the time responded by saying the UK would work
with Malaysian and Indonesian governments to investigate claims that up
to six British warships had been plundered in their waters
The HMS Repulse was sunk by Japanese forces in 1941
The China-registered bulk carrier detained for anchoring illegally in Malaysia's waters
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