Pirates Evade Enforcement Agencies After Boarding Tanker in SE Asia
ON 14 Jun 14, the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC) issued an Incident Alert 05/2014 following a report from a shipping company that an unknown number of pirates had boarded the product tanker, Ai Maru, from three speed boats in position 02:06.90N - 104:39.80E (South China Sea) at or about 2030 LT. The Honduras-registered product tanker, with 1520 metric tonne of MGO onboard, departed western Singapore OPL for the Gulf of Thailand when the incident occurred.
ReCAAP Actions
On receiving the information that Ai Maru was boarded by an unknown number of personnel on 14 Jun at 2030 LT, the ReCAAP ISC immediately worked with the Information Fusion Centre (IFC) and alerted the regional maritime authorities in the area. Whilst the vessel continued to head south-easterly at a speed of about 4.5 knots, the maritime authorities from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia responded to the incident and deployed their assets to the location. With continuous updates from the onset of the incident, the ReCAAP ISC worked with the IFC to the wee hours of the morning to maintain the surface plot as maritime assets converged to the victim ship. At about 0050 LT, Ai Maru was observed to be drifting with its shipboard lighting turned on, as the maritime authorities closed in.
Responses by the Regional Enforcement Agencies
Deployed to the location were six vessels: one ship from the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN), two ships from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), two ships from the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) and one ship from the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN). The first ship on scene was patrol vessel, RSS Gallant deployed by the RSN.
Initial investigation revealed that seven pirates armed with pistols and knives boarded the product tanker, tied the crew and locked them in a room. They damaged the ship’s communication equipment, reportedly siphoned 620 metric tonne of the MGO, stole the crew’s personal belongings including laptops, cash and mobile phones; and fled after seeing the enforcement agencies’ vessels closing in. The crew was not injured.
Conclusion
The ReCAAP ISC commends the timely reporting of the incident by the shipping company. This enables the Centre to immediately alert the ReCAAP Focal Point (Singapore) which is MPA’s Port Operations Control and Command (POCC), the IFC and its enforcement agency (RSN) as well as the regional maritime authorities of Malaysia and Indonesia. Worth commending was the quick responses of the three regional maritime authorities of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia who worked together in responding to the incident. This demonstrated the cooperative mechanisms of the littoral States in information sharing and close operational cooperation in responding to transnational maritime incidents.
Source: ReCAAP ISC
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