The Malaysian coast guard earlier this week detained a Chinese vessel which was allegedly involved in stealing World War II shipwrecks, according to Japanese news outlets Kyodo and Nikkei Asia. 

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency in a statement that the Chinese vessel was registered in Fuzhou, China and that it had detained 32 crew members on Sunday for anchoring in waters off Malaysia’s eastern coast, in southern Johor, without a permit. 

The Malaysian coast guard said they found on the ship cannon shells which could have been from sunken British World War II battleships. The cannon shells are likely from the Prince of Wales and the Repulse. 

These are similar to ones found earlier in May at a scrapyard in Johor state. 

The Prince of Wales and the Repulse were drowned by Japanese bombers in 1941 off the east coast of Malaysia in the South China Sea, Kyodo said. The incident has been described as one of the worst disasters in Britain’s naval history, Kyodo said. 

At least 840 British sailors lost their lives in the attack. The Chuan Hong 68, the Chinese vessel being held in Malaysia, was spotted in the location of the shipwrecks last month, the New Straits Times, a local newspaper, reported. 

The report pointed out that Chuan Hong 68 dredged up the remains of the battleships and then unloads the extracted items at a private jetty in Johor with a scrapyard that can store as well as melt down metals. 

During a raid on the scrapyard, authorities discovered relics, including unexploded ordnance, artillery shells, and scrap metal, believed to originate from the Prince of Wales, as reported by the newspaper. The National Museum of the Royal Navy expressed distress and concern over the apparent profit-driven vandalism of the two ships. 

Image Source: CNA