Most of the captains were freed after a few weeks once ship owners made unofficial payments to navy intermediaries of between $300,000 and $400,000, the people said. The Indonesian navy has said it never requests or receives money to release vessels. Ledoux, 57, questioned why more wasn't being done by ship owners and governments to raise awareness of the issue. An Indonesian navy spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters has not seen what evidence was presented at the trial to prove the ship was in Indonesian waters.

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