Tag: Malaysia

Charged with firearms offences Seven Somali pirates were charged with firearms offences in a Malaysian court on Friday in a move that could see some of them hanged if they are found guilty in the first prosecution of Somali pirates by an Asian country.The pirates - three of who were 15-years old - were captured in January by Malaysian commandos after they attempted to hijack a Malaysian-owned chemicals tanker.They seven, wearing bright orange jump-suits, did not enter a plea after the charges were read in a court in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur and prosecutor Mohamed Aba Zafree said the 15-year olds would not face the death penalty as they were minors.The decision to prosecute came as pirate attacks hit a seven-year high in 2010, according to the Kuala Lumpur-based International Maritime Bureau which collates statistics on attacks, disrupting shipping lanes at a time when the price of raw materials has moved sharply higher.Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia have hijacked vessels in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden for years, making millions of dollars in ransoms by seizing ships, including oil tankers, despite the presence of dozens of foreign naval vessels.There were 445 actual and ...

Extended by 6 days Malaysian authorities have extended by six days a detention order against seven Somali pirates captured by Malaysian forces last month in a raid to free a hijacked oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.A police spokesman told AFP that investigators need more time to complete their probe into the case, a historic bid by an Asian country to prosecute bandits operating off the coast of lawless Somalia."The extended detention is to enable police to complete their investigations," a spokesman from police headquarters in the capital Kuala Lumpur told AFP.The seven have been held on remand in Malaysia since January 31 when they arrived on board the tanker MT Bunga Laurel, which was seized by pirates along with its crew of 23 on January 20.The tanker was headed to Singapore with a cargo of lubricating oil worth more than $10 million when high-seas bandits armed with AK-47 assault rifles boarded and took control of the ship.Malaysian naval commandos from a vessel protecting shipping in the Gulf of Aden, along with a navy attack helicopter, responded to a distress call and captured the pirates after a brief firefight.A day later, South Korean forces captured another five pirates in ...

Nineteen crew have been detained in Malaysia A total of 19 crewmen from two marine tankers, including the captains, were detained for illegally transferring marine fuel off Kukup near Pontian.Muar marine police operation force commanding officer Asst Supt Nordin Osman said the tankers Arowana Barcelona, from Malaysia, and Ocean Samudera from Singapore, were brought to the Kukup Terminal on Wednesday.He said the vessels were caught for transferring fuel at 1.30pm some 2.8 nautical miles off Kukup."We were making our rounds when we spotted the two tankers next to each other."When we approached them, we saw the Malaysian ship transferring marine fuel into the Singapore ship," he said here yesterday.ASP Nordin said that about 50,000 litres of marine fuel worth about RM25,000 was transferred without approval and the crew was detained under Section 491(B) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1953.The crewmen, aged between 25 and 50, have been handed over to maritime authorities at Tanjung Pelepas near Gelang Patah.Source: The Star

Malaysia Incident Alert - robbers board a chemical tanker in 13 January The ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre issued an Incident Alert stating that a chemical tanker was boarded in the early morning hours of 13 January while anchored off Johor, Malaysia. The crew locked themselves in the accommodation room. When the crew came out about an hour later, the robbers were gone, after having inflicted minor damage to the ship.You may view the Incident Alert here.Source: ReCAAP Information Centre