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87 North Korean poachers detained in Sea of Japan in two days

They poached on 11 small vessels

MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Russian border guards have detained 87 North Korean citizens who had poached on 11 small vessels during the past two days, the Center for Public Relations (CPR) of the Federal Security Service (FSB) told TASS.

"The FSB Border Service for the Primorye Region suppressed the illegal activity of North Korean sailors on 11 small vessels on September 28-30. Eighty-seven North Korean citizens, crew members of the vessels, were detained," the FSB highlighted.

The border guards seized and confiscated banned fishing equipment and more than 4,000 illegally caught squid species. Now the violators are being taken to the port of Posyet for further study and a procedural decision.

According to earlier reports, Russian border guards found two North Korean schooners and 11 motorboats that poached in Russia’s exclusive economic zone while patrolling the Kita-Yamato Bank in the Sea of Japan on September 17. The crew of one vessel carried out an armed assault on the border guards, in which four border guards were injured. On September 20, the schooners and their crews were taken to the port of Nakhodka. A total of 161 North Korean nationals were detained. Some of them were injured and one was killed. Based on the fact of the attack, a criminal case was launched under Section 317 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Encroachment on the life of a law enforcement officer").