IRNA � Iran detained 16 crew members of two fishing boats in Iran's territorial waters, near Kish Island, Persian Gulf, on Saturday.

The coastguard commander for Iran�s southern Kish Island, Colonel Rahim Jahanbakhsh, said on Saturday that the boats belonged to an Arab littoral state of the Persian Gulf and one of them was trying to escape the Iranian Waters.

Iranian forces confiscated two metric tons of rare and endangered marine species, and a slew of Israeli-made ghost nets from the fleeing boats.

Jahanbakhsh further said that Kish maritime forces won't let any illegal activities in Kish waters.

He said that the forces have seized 11 foreign boats that had illegally entered Iran's territorial waters since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2017) and have arrested 76 crew members.