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Maritime authorities have intercepted four boats in Western Australia’s far north.
An Australian Border Force spokesperson last night confirmed Maritime Border Command had stopped the “illegal foreign fishing vessels”, following earlier reports from a local tour operator.
“A single vessel was interdicted and following further enquiries, another three foreign fishing vessels were found and interdicted,” they said, in a statement issued about 11.30pm.
Local tourism operator Peter Tucker earlier said he and three other residents found the boats at Kuri Bay on Monday afternoon and alerted the authorities.
Tucker guided them to the vessels this morning with the help of other residents including traditional owner Adrian Lane, Robyn Mungulu and Christabell Oobagooma.
“We found them in the mangroves,” Tucker told 9news.com.au.
Tucker estimated there were 40 men in the vessels, with 10 people in each boat.
“They looked very young, in their 20s and 30s,” he said.
Tucker said the community spotted boats along the coastline “for the last few months” but it was unclear where they were from.
“Their presence is obvious to us when we do move around on this coastline,” he said.
The ABF spokesperson said Operation Leedstrum involved more staffing, patrol vehicles and “a rotary wing asset for rapid response to any BorderWatch reporting from members of the public” in north-west Australia.
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