Pirate Swarm Steals Metal from Barge
Anti-piracy equipment company Palaemon reports that security threats occurred over the past week in the Singapore Straits, Gulf of Guinea and Red Sea. The incidents include:
• 32 pirates used eight boats to attack a tug boat in the Singapore Strait, stealing a large quantity of scrap metal. The crew remained unharmed. The pirates had three boats on the port side, four on the starboard side, and one boat in the rear. Each had 3-4 perpetrators onboard, with14 boarding the barge to steal the metal.
• An armed assailants targeted multiple passenger boats on the Bonny River in Nigeria, kidnapping three. Local authorities foiled numerous other attacks and recovered the three victims.
• Six armed robbers boarded a bulk carrier in the Phillip Channel, Indonesia, stealing spare parts from the engine room. No crew were harmed.
• Five intruders were spotted on a bulk carrier in the Singapore Straits. It remains unclear whether items were stolen or crew was harmed.
In the week ending June 9, ReCAAP ISC reported eight incidents of armed robbery against ships in Asia. Seven of the incidents occurred onboard ships while underway in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme in Singapore Strait, and one incident occurred onboard ship while anchored at Jakarta Anchorage, Indonesia. No crew members were injured but the loss of equipment was reported in three cases.
