Vietnam Detains, Releases 5 Thai Fishing Boats

Vietnam detains, releases 5 Thai fishing boats

HANOI: -- Vietnamese authorities have released five Thai fishing boats they had detained late last week for violating the country's territorial waters, an official said Monday.

Coast Guard vessels from Kien Giang province in southern Vietnam escorted the five boats with 58 fishermen aboard, including 24 Thai nationals and 34 Cambodian nationals, to international waters and released them there on Saturday, according to Tran Xuan Nghiem, director of the Foreign Affairs Department of Kien Giang province.

"Vietnam and Thailand have friendly relations, so we just released the boats without punishing them," Nghiem said.

The boats were detained last Thursday while fishing in an area about 32 kilometres from Hon Khoai Island off Vietnam's southernmost province of Ca Mau, according to the official.

"They admitted to violating Vietnamese waters and promised not to do it again," Nghiem said.

--dpa 2008-06-09