On 17 February, at or about 0445local time, an Indian-registered offshore tug, POORNA, was under-way, at approximately 6.4 nm southwest of Pulau Nipa, in position 0108N, 10333.16E, when 6 robbers armed with long knives boarded the vessel from a motorized craft. After breaking into the wheelhouse through the porthole glass of aft starboard entrance and opening the door from inside, the robbers took stole 2 sets of binoculars and the crew’s personal items, including mobile phones. The crew were unharmed during the boarding.
The Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia - RECAAP, reported that the master had reported the incident to its Singapore’s Port Operations Control Centre (POCC). The operator then reported the incident to MRCC (Mumbai) who are the ReCAAP Focal Point (Singapore), and ReCAAP Focal Point (India), respectively. The POCC initiated
navigational broadcast to alert mariners operating in the vicinity and informed the ReCAAP ISC (Information Sharing Centere), Singapore’s Police Coast Guard, Republic of Singapore Navy, MRCC (Putra Jaya) and MRCC (Jakarta) about the incident. The RECAAP Incident Alert is published here.