Only one of the 12 foreign fishing boats suspected of misconduct in Indonesian territorial waters recently was detained, suggesting that sending a whole flotilla rather than individual boats is used as a tactic to avoid arrest.

"This is their strategy, so that if one is caught, the rest can escape," Indonesian Navy Western Region Fleet Commander rear admiral Achmad Taufiqoerrohman said on Tuesday, as quoted by the Antara news agency.

When the Navy encountered 12 foreign boats suspected of illegal fishing in Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Friday, the boats were approached in accordance with standard law enforcement procedures, Taufiqoerrohman said. The boats had immediately dispersed in an attempt to escape, even after repeated calls to stop by both radio communications and speaker, he continued, adding that warning shots had eventually been released into the air and sea.

One Chinese boat, called the Han Tan Cou 19038, along with the crew of seven, was detained. The boat had released trawl nets, thus slowing down its escape, and was eventually intercepted by the Indonesian warship Imam Bonjol.

"Anyone can pass through the EEZ peacefully, but when they begin to exploit economic resources without permission, we will take action," Taufiqoerrohman said.

A Chinese coastguard vessel had approached the scene and requested the Indonesian Navy release the fishing boat on grounds that it was conducting activities in its "traditional fishing grounds", a demand that was denied.

"They were quite provocative in their approach with high speed and abruptly stopping in front of us. But our troops kept calm, even though they followed us until we exited, we did not want to release the crewmen until we had reached Natuna Islands," Taufiqoerrohman said. (liz/dmr)