Searcher linked to desecration of WWII wreck arrested again

A Chinese grab dredger that allegedly desecrated the wrecks of two famous World War II warships off the coast of Malaysia has once again found itself in legal trouble. The famous Chuan Hong 68 was detained again by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), this time for paperwork violations.

Last year, Malaysian authorities arrested Chuan Hong 68 off the coast of Johor for allegedly crushing and removing the wreck of the Royal Navy battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Fight offwhich were sunk by Japanese forces during the invasion of the Malay Peninsula in December 1941. Both are protected war graves. In May 2023, local residents obtained video footage of a ship unloading what appeared to be a large gun dripping with mud at a Malaysian scrapyard (below).

@historicfirearm @FranticGoat @UKDefJournal @NavyLookout

I need your help to spread the word. There is apparently an illegal salvage operation underway at the suspected location where HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk by a Chinese salvage vessel. photo: twitter.com/kkXtH2vCg3

— Elizabeth Vstx (@EVostox) May 18, 2023

(Elizabeth Vostox / May 2023)

Upon boarding in May 2023 Chuan Hong 68, inspectors found rusty artillery shells and other scrap. The punishment for the crew members could be up to two years in prison if convicted of desecrating wrecks, according to the New Straits Times. “The MMEA) does not rule out the possibility that the vessel is involved in stealing old wrecks of British warships,” the agency reported at the time.

Back in January 2024, the Johor Police’s unexploded ordnance disposal team was called in to deal with old, rusty artillery shells found at a scrapyard where Chuan Hong 68 discharged her charge. It consisted of two 130 mm shells – roughly equivalent to a 5.25 inch gun, of which HMS Prince of Wales It carried eight and 55 ageing 40mm shells, the standard size for the anti-aircraft ‘pom-pom’ guns used by the Royal Navy during World War II.

The MMEA has not published any updates on this matter in the last 12 months and Chuan Hong 68 has repeatedly returned to the same operational area north-east of the Singapore Strait, often disappearing from the AIS for weeks at a time. This is the same region she was operating in when she was stopped in 2023 and is roughly the same area as HMS Prince of Wales’ last known position.

On the afternoon of July 1, the MMEA and the Royal Malaysian Navy boarded Chuan Hong 68 at a site just off Tanjung Hantu, Perak – on the opposite side of the Strait of Malacca from the dredger’s previous operating area and about 300 nautical miles northwest of Singapore.

Courtesy of MMEA

This time, inspectors did not find illegal scrap metal, but they did notice 60 unregistered LPG tanks on board. They also found irregularities in the ship’s documents and port clearance certificates. The ship and all crew were detained pending an investigation.

“Malaysian Maritime urges the maritime community to always comply with the laid down regulations to avoid any action being taken,” the MMEA said in a statement.