THE captain and crew of the Thai oil tanker that was attacked by pirates in waters off Kuantan on Friday were tied up, which delayed them from raising the alarm.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) director-general Admiral Datuk Zulkifili Abu Bakar said a report was only made about 21 hours after the incident.
“With regard to the robbery incident involving CP41, the report came almost 21 hours later as the ship’s master and crew were tied and the ship’s communications equipment was destroyed by robbers,” he tweeted.
He said MMEA had since increased air and sea surveillance in hotspots at sea, and ships passing through robbery-prone areas had been instructed to look out for suspicious vessels.
Zulkifili, in a statement yesterday, said MMEA had set up a task force to investigate and gather information on the incident.
“MMEA has contacted the Thailand Maritime Enforcement Coordinating Centre for help. Since this is a cross-border crime, we will also work with Indonesia’s navy and Singapore’s Police Coast Guard.
“We will share intelligence information to prevent such incidents from recurring and hope to nab the perpetrators. MMEA’s assets have been deployed to patrol hotspots with help from the navy and marine police.”
Zulkifili said such incidents could be curbed with cooperation from all quarters.
He reminded ship operators to immediately report cases so that the authorities could deploy assets immediately.
In the incident, armed pirates hijacked the tanker about 9pm and made off with about 1.5 million litres of diesel.
The tanker, CP41, was en route from Singapore to Songkhla province in southern Thailand.
The pirates, who allegedly spoke Bahasa Malaysia, transferred the fuel onto their ship then fled. The tanker, which was transporting 3.8 million litres of diesel, is docked at Noo Island off Songkhla.
Bernama reported that Thai police had formed a panel to investigate the incident.
Thai National Police deputy spokesman Colonel Krissana Pattanacharoen was quoted as saying the joint panel comprised representatives from the marine police and army.
“The investigation is ongoing. The nationality of the pirates and whether Thais were involved is unclear,” he said, adding that there were six to seven pirates.