On Feb. 10, the Indonesian Navy announced that it had intercepted and seized a fishing vessel off the island of Batam.

The boat, operated by Taiwanese crew members, was carrying one tonne of crystal methamphetamine.

Its name was reported as "MV Sunrise Glory", and it was flying a Singapore flag when it was intercepted in the Phillip Channel between Singapore and Batam.

According to the Indonesian Navy, drugs were found in 41 sacks of rice after the crew was detained for investigation at Batu Ampar Port in Batam.

The crew were supposedly unable to provide original documents, and used only photocopied documents from Indonesia.

Flown false flag

However on Feb. 12, the Central Narcotics Bureau of Singapore announced in a press release that the boat had no right to fly the Singapore flag.

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Said the CNB:

"The boat is not a Singapore-registered boat. It is registered in Kaoshiung, Taiwan, as “Shun De Man No.66”. 

Preliminary investigations by the Indonesian authorities show that at the time of interception, the Taiwanese syndicate had used the fictitious name “Sunrise Glory” for the boat and falsely flown the Singapore flag."

The CNB added that the incident had originally taken place on Feb. 7, and that the Indonesian authorities were continuing to investigate the case.

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