TEMPO.CO, Kuala Lumpur - Armed pirates have raided a Japanese tanker off the Malaysian coast and abducted three crew members, according to Malaysian maritime police today.
The incident in the Malacca Strait, a route for about a quarter of the world’s oil trading by sea, had triggered concerns that piracy could be on the rise in the area and increase ship insurance premiums.
Six pirates on speedboats boarded the Naninwa Maru 1 this dawn at 1 a.m. off the coast of west Malaysia, Maritime Police Commander Abdul Aziz Yusof told Reuters. The pirates also pumped out more than half of 5 million liters carried by the tanker into two vessels with three crew members, he added. Malaysian media reported the abducted crew members were Indonesian nationals.
The Japanese tanker, heading to Myanmar from Singapore, had Indonesian, Thai, Myanmar and Indian Crew.
Regional security officials earlier told Reuters that groups of armed pirates prowling the Malacca Strait may be part of a syndicate that can have links to the crew members or have inside contacts about the ship and cargo.
REUTERS | ABDUL MANAN