Iranian authorities impounded four fishing boats owned by Saudi nationals with 17 expatriate fishermen on board, when they entered Iranian territorial waters on Wednesday. Meanwhile, until Thursday afternoon the frontier guard in the Eastern Province did not confirm or deny the incident, Al-Watan said Friday. Lt. Col. Muhammad Bin Saad Al-Ghamdi, director of public relations for the Frontier Guard Command in the Eastern Province told Al-Watan that the Iranian authorities impounded six Saudi fishing boats in June after they entered Iranian territorial waters. The boats and their crew were later released. According to Col. Ridha Muhammadi, commander of the Internal Security Forces of the Iranian Boushehr Governorate, the Iranian Coast Guard impounded four Saudi fishing boats with 17 Asian fishermen on board. Al-Watan learnt from Iranian official sources that the security authorities there have promised to release the fishermen when the routine procedures are completed. The sources confirmed that they did not find any suspicious devices in the boats or on the fishermen. They said the incident took place when the Iranian security authorities intensified monitoring of their water frontiers. Al-Hayat quoted the Saudi Frontier Guard as saying that they did not receive any reports of the Iranian Navy intercepting the four Saudi fishing boats that were said to have entered Iranian territorial waters. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. Talal Anqawi, Director General of the Frontier Guard told Al-Hayat that the last report Saudi Arabia received was on May 30, when three Saudi fishing boats were impounded. According to Lt. Col. Muhammad Al-Ghamdi permits are issued to fishing boats for a period of one to five days depending on the boat size. For this reason, it cannot be confirmed that the boats have gone missing until the permit period ends or the owner reports that they have gone missing. Iran had announced on Thursday that it intercepted four Saudi boats with the Indian crew in its territorial waters near Boushehr Nuclear Plant site. He said usually in such incidents they are informed through the Iranian authorities according to agreements between the two countries or through the owners of boats after receiving a telephone call from the seamen. However, till now the Frontier Guard has not received information pertaining to the status of the boats impounded on Thursday. Al-Ghamdi said if boats, with Saudi permits for fishing in the Saudi territorial waters, do not return within a certain period of time a search party is sent out to investigate. The search is done in collaboration with the Saudi coast guard and coast guards from other countries. He said boats sometimes drift out of territorial waters in order to find more fish. He stressed that the coast guard regulation prohibits leaving Saudi territorial waters. __
