Image source, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Image caption,

The China-registered bulk carrier detained for anchoring illegally in Malaysia's waters

By Hannah Ritchie

BBC News

Malaysia has detained a Chinese-registered vessel suspected of looting two British World War Two shipwrecks.

The bulk carrier was seized on Sunday for anchoring illegally at the site in the South China Sea.

Ammunition believed to be from the HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse, which were sunk by Japanese forces more than 80 years ago, was then found on board.

The UK Ministry of Defence had earlier condemned the alleged raid as a "desecration" of maritime war graves.

For years, the historic shipwrecks have been targeted by scavengers for low-radiation steel and scrap metal.

Their resting site is on the bed of the South China Sea, some 100km (60 miles) off the east coast of Malaysia.

The Royal Navy battleships, dispatched to Singapore during the war to shore up the defence of Malaya, were sunk by Japanese torpedoes on 10 December 1941.

The strike - which occurred just three days after the attack on the US fleet in Pearl Harbour - killed some 842 sailors and is considered one of the worst disasters in British naval history.