Malacca Strait: Pirates go for anchored tankers off Singapore

Reported as Pirates attempt to board two tankers near Singapore:

Pirates attempted to board two tankers in a busy shipping lane off southern Malaysia on Monday, a regional government security agency said. Five men tried to board Panama-registered tanker Pacific Harmony early on Monday near the southern Malaysian port of Tanjung Ayam, just to the east of Singapore, according to the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). The men fled on hearing the ship's alarm system.

Two hours later, six men with long knives tried to board Malaysia-registered chemical tanker MMM Kingston. They fled in a speed boat after seeing the crew had been alerted.

ReCAAP said the same group was probably involved and advised shipping crews to take precautions since there had been six such cases this year in the area, all during the night while the ships were anchored.

"That area is high risk ... there have been a number of attacks in that area," said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur, confirming the two attacks.

ReCAAP reports:

Strait of Malacca: Piracy off Singapore

Several recent incidents near the Strait of Malacca, as in this report from ReCAAP on a boarding on 30 Aug 09:




Not as exciting as Somali pirates - except for those involved, I expect.

Malaysian marine police capture pirates

Reported here:

Malaysian marine police on Tuesday rescued 16 crew members of a Malaysian ship and detained five Indonesian suspected pirates, officials said.

Six masked men had boarded the PNG Express early Tuesday in waters off Johor state, and tied up the ship's Malaysian captain and 15 crew - all of whom are Thai nationals - before robbing them of their belongings, said federal marine police commander Isa Munir.
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All the suspects are Indonesians with valid passports.

'We managed to recover all stolen items along with four machetes, four masks and binoculars belonging to the suspects,' said Isa.

Five arrests, one escapee who jumped overboard to avoid arrest and for whom there seems to be no search and rescue effort.