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ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo released by Japan coast guard, its patrol boat Norikura, right, prepares to stop Chinese fishing boat Lurongyu 1736 off Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, northern Japan, Friday morning, Aug. 5, 2011. Japan has seized two Chinese fishing boats, including Lurongyu 1736, and their captains for alleged illegal fishing off the northern Japanese coast Friday. (AP Photo/Japan coast guard) EDITORIAL USE ONLY
TOKYO >> Japan has seized two Chinese fishing boats and their captains for alleged illegal fishing off the Japanese coast.
Japan Coast Guard officials said the captains are being investigated on suspicion of unauthorized fishing inside Japan’s exclusive economic waters off the northern coast of Ishikawa prefecture (state) in the Japan Sea.
Trawlers Lurongyu 1735 and Lurongyu 1736 were carrying 17 Chinese crewmembers each.
The captains allegedly ignored the Japanese officials’ order to stop for an inspection and tried to escape. The Coast Guard identified the captains as 26-year-old Wang Fugui and 35-year-old Zheng Wenwu.
No more details were available.
A collision between Japanese patrol boats and a Chinese trawler and its captain’s arrest last year near disputed southern Japanese islands sparked a diplomatic rift between the countries.
