The apprehension of the 'Marco Polo' came just one day after the Coast Guard detained a Venezuelan trawler, 'Maria Giovanna', caught fishing within the country's borders last Friday, the Coast Guard said.

Two other vessels illegally importing fuel were seized on Sunday, Commander in Charge of the Georgetown Unit, Mr. Terrence Pile announced yesterday.

The vessels were escorted by armed officials and moored at this unit yesterday.

CREW members on board the detained vessel yesterday.
Commander Pile explained that the recent detention was the culmination of three days of operations mounted by the local Coast Guard.

He said the Coast Guard mounted a fishing protection patrol which departed Georgetown on Friday and that on Saturday, at about 13:30 hrs, intercepted the trawler which had seven crew members and 7,000 pounds of mixed fish on board.

According to him, the crew members were very hostile towards the Coast Guard and made threatening manoeuvres to the officers.

They fouled the propellers of the two patrol vessels and the guards were tasked with freeing them to continue with the operation.

This was done successfully, he said and they were able to take the vessel into custody.

Pile said the fishermen would normally behave in this manner and that this has to be taken into consideration during such operations.

On Sunday afternoon, a Venezuelan frigate, the 'Pigassa' communicated to the DFS Essequibo, launched Saturday to support the two vessels on patrol, requesting to take the Venezuelan vessel apprehended into custody but this was denied.

The request was made twice, Pile said and was again denied.

He said that the vessel subsequently returned to Venezuela following warnings by the commanding officer of the DFS Essequibo that it was illegally in Guyana's territory.

According to Pile, as a result of this operation, the Coast Guard on Sunday was also able to apprehend two other vessels, the 'Babiona' and the 'Rena Demar' illegally transporting fuel to Guyana.

He said about 250 drums of fuel were seized as well as three tanks on board which had unknown quantities of fuel.

The `Rena Demar' is owned by Leo Singh of Perseverance, Essequibo Coast, while the `Babiona' is owned by Leo Da Silva of Cahara Beach, West Pomeroon river mouth.

He said the Coast Guard was aware of this type of illegal operation for some time now but the perpetrators managed to slip away.

On this occasion they were able to get the two Guyanese vessels which were expected to moor at the Coast Guard base last evening.

He said the operation was carried out by GDF vessels, DFS Baracuda and Tirapuku supported by the DFS Essequibo.

Asked about the frequency of the illegal operations, Commander Pile explained that the Trawler Owners Association had a self-imposed close season at the moment where they decided that they would not fish in the fishery zone.

He said that because of this, other foreign vessels are taking advantage of the situation.

"Because of this we have to intensify Coast Guard patrols in the area and that is why we have successfully apprehended two vessels so far...our efforts will continue", he stated.

The vessels were intercepted about 16 nautical miles east of the western border line.

Meanwhile the Police have commenced investigations into the operations of the 'Maria Giovanna' caught with more than 20,000 pounds of seafood Friday.

Its crew was caught at about 29 nautical miles east of the Waini River, Essequibo, the Chronicle understands.