National

Navy Confiscates 15 Pirate Ships During 2004
Thursday, 16 December, 2004 | 16:50 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Western Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral Y Didik Heru Purnomo, has said that his staff had arrested 15 pirate ships from 91 piracy cases reported during 2004.

The Western Fleet security patrol recently arrested a pirate group led by Azis in the Berhala Strait, Riau islands, on Sunday (12/12).

Azis and his 9 crew had pirated the Tongkang Surya Wirya-1 ship from Singapore, which was transporting 4,200 tons of coal and was heading to Palembang, South Sumatra.

However, out of 10 pirates, only four were arrested, and the authorities are still searching for other members of the pirate group.

“This group is a very coordinated pirate syndicate. They have legal documents in order to avoid being arrested by the authorities,” Purnomo told reporters in Tanjung Priok on Tuesday (14/12).

The pirate group led by Azis was arrested by the patrol ship of KRI Memet Sastrawirya.

The group had managed to deceive the authorities by changing the color of the paint of the ship they had hijacked.

According to Purnomo, the patrolling authorities had also arrested smugglers in the waters of Bangka-Belitung on Monday (13/12).

These smugglers used a Singaporean barge ship to transport 92.8 tons of tin slag, 476.684 tons of tin block, 327.6 tons of raw rubber and 114 tons of pepper.

It is assumed that these items were to have been smuggled to Singapore.

At the end of November, the authorities also confiscated five ships smuggling fertilizer to Singapore at the Tanjung Balai Asahan port.

According to Purnomo, the increasing number of piracy is due to the increasing demand for barges.

He also stated that these pirates had no relation to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Following coordinated patrol activities in the Malacca Strait waters, piracy cases have decreased.

However, it turns out that the pirates have moved their activities to the waters of Natuna, Bangka Strait, Berhala Strait and Durian Strait in the Riau islands.
(Sunariah-Tempo News Room)