The Armed Forces of Malta said that it had intercepted two Tunisian fishing boats in Maltese waters on Sunday.

The boats were found to be fishing in Malta’s Fisheries Conservation and Management Zone west of Gozo.

The two fishing vessels were boarded by AFM personnel and were escorted to Valletta Grand Harbour during the night for further investigation by Malta’s Fisheries Department and the Malta Police Force.

In what can be construed as a veritable war on the high seas, Maltese and Tunisian fishers have clashed in the past, with last year being an especially tense situation.

Maltese fishers reported being threatened by Tunisians wielding machetes and Molotov cocktails, and terrorised by a ship which they’d nicknamed Bin Laden and which threatened to ram them if they got near.