Jakarta – Thousands of villagers looted state owned shrimp ponds on the Indonesian island of Nusakambangan, a report said Wednesday. Around 2,000 people from southern Central Java crossed the narrow strait to Nusakambangan late Saturday and looted the local state cooperative shrimp ponds, the Republika daily said.

The ponds were within a restricted zone of a high-security correctional facility but people continued to arrive and loot the ponds despite warning shots fired by a joint police, navy and army security team, the daily said. Rubber coated bullets were also fired, the daily said, but there were no reports of casualties.

Banyumas district police chief Colonel Isnandar believed the looting had been sparked by the beating of a man by a jail warden as he was attempting to collect shrimps in a ponds already harvested by the cooperative. Indonesia, currently battling a major economic crisis, has seen widespread looting of businesses, plantations, wood estate as well as fish and shrimp ponds in recent months.