On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 10:35:52 -0500, "Dr. John Smith"
wrote:

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Xinhuanet) -- The pirates who abducted three crew
members from the Japanese tugboat Idaten in the Malacca Straits Monday,
disguised themselves as local fishermen to evade police check, a police
officer said Wednesday.

~~ snippage ~~

Back awhile ago, I went with a friend of mine who was transporting
three 40 foot Cabos down to Costa Rica as deck cargo. We chatted with
the freighter officers (German) along the way and one of the things
they were most concerned about were pirates - especially with the 40
footers as cargo - something smugglers would want. By the time we got
near the transfer point where we were going to run the Cabos inshore,
things were a little tense because of reported activity in the area.
The freighter captain took us inshore much closer than originally
planned to cut us some slack, but he couldn't take it all the way in
because of his schedule.

Nothing happened when we took the boats inshore, but it was a nervous
trip.

Later,

Tom