A Chinese-registered vessel has been detained in Malaysia, on suspicion of looting the wreckage of Second World War-era British warships in the South China Sea.

Malaysia’s maritime agency said a cannon shell had been found on-board the carrier ship.

Local media reported illegal salvage operators are believed to have targeted the HMS Repulse and the HMS Prince of Wales – both of which were sunk in 1941 by Japanese torpedoes.

More than 840 sailors died in the attacks, with the shipwrecks designated as war graves.

The authorities were alerted last month, when fishermen and divers spotted a foreign vessel in the area, and detained the ship, which is registered in Fuzhou, China, on Sunday, for anchoring without a permit.

According to the Malaysian maritime agency, 32 crew members were on board – 21 from China, 10 from Bangladesh and one from Malaysia.

Officials from the National Heritage Department are now working to identify the cannon shell, which is believed to be linked to the police seizure of dozens of unexploded artillery at a private scrapyard in Johor, in southern Malaysia.

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The UK’s National Museum of the Royal Navy said last week it was “distressed and concerned at the apparent vandalism for personal profit”.

A picture released by the Malaysian maritime agency showed a barge carrier that was carrying a large crane and piles of rusty metal.

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The metal in question, known as pre-war steel, is considered valuable and could be smelted down for use in manufacturing.

This is not the first time the two sunken warships have been targeted.

In 2015, the New Straits Times said treasure hunters used homemade explosives to detonate the heavy steel plates on the ships, so they could be accessed more easily.

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