Chinese fishermen arrested by Philippine maritime police for poaching in the West Philippine Sea. REDEMPTO D. ANDA/INQUIRER SOUTHERN LUZON FILE PHOTO
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan—Twelve Chinese nationals convicted in August of poaching in the Tubbataha Reefs were transferred Friday morning to the Iwahig Prison, a minimum security prison facility on the outskirts of this city, to serve their sentence.
The foreigners, sentenced by the Palawan Regional Trial Court to a jail term of six to 12 years, had been under the custody of the Bureau of Immigration where they faced a separate case for deportation.
The Chinese nationals were held in a private house rented by the government prior to their transfer to Iwahig.
The convicted poachers were caught after their vessel ran aground in Tubbataha two years ago.
Apart from the jail sentence they were also ordered to pay fines of $100,000 each.
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