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.
The crew who were safe in the attack had informed that the pirates used
three local fishing boats to approach the tugboat, Malaysia Maritime
Enforcement Coordination Center Director, First Admiral Abdul Hadi Abdul
Rashid, told reporters after closing a naval exercise in Penang State.

"In our enforcement operations, we only inspect foreign fishing vessels
which encroach our waters and not local ones. It is impossible for us to
check all boats in our waters within a short time," he said.

He said because of the disguise, a patrol vessel which was partof the
exercise and about 15 nautical miles east of the location of the attack
could not respond in time.

Abdul Hadi said investigations found the boats to be Malaysian-owned but
with false registration numbers and the owners were being traced.

He was commenting on the attack in which the Idaten's captain Nobouo
Indue, 54, chief engineer Shunji Kuroda, 51, both Japanese, and a Filipino
engineer Sadang Paliawan, 41, were kidnapped.

The Idaten with a crew of 11 was towing a construction barge, Kuroshio
1, which had a 150-man crew and was carrying undersea pipe laying equipment
from Batam in Indonesia to Myanmar when it came under attack.

The attack is believed to be the work of the same pirates who preyed on
two other vessels in the Straits of Malacca over the past two weeks.

The incidents also happened in roughly the same area which is only about
20 nautical miles off the maritime borders of Indonesia and Malaysia,
enabling them to make quick get-aways.

Last Saturday, 35 pirates armed with machine guns and rocket launchers
stormed a tanker which was on its way from Samirinda in Kalimantan to
Belawan in Sumatra. The captain and chief engineer were abducted.

On March 2, four men in a fishing boat kidnapped a tugboat captain and
his Indonesian chief officer.

The Straits of Malacca is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world
with an estimated 50,000 vessels carrying all types cargoes using it
annually. Enditem ?

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

SWS,
Did you have a shotgun or any kind of defense? I would assume pirates do
not want to leave any witnesses.


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
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

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:29:51 -0500, "Dr. John Smith"
wrote:

SWS,
Did you have a shotgun or any kind of defense? I would assume pirates do
not want to leave any witnesses.

Radios. :)

Later,

Tom

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:29:51 -0500, "Dr. John Smith"
wrote:

SWS,
Did you have a shotgun or any kind of defense? I would assume
pirates do
not want to leave any witnesses.

Radios. :)

Later,

Tom

Here's another thread on pirates with some good links to other sites.
For everyone who dislikes jet skis, on the second page half way down,
'Fast Fred' has a remedy. Sam

http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5659

On 16 Mar 2005 13:08:22 -0800, wrote:


Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Wed, 16 Mar 2005 11:29:51 -0500, "Dr. John Smith"
wrote:

SWS,
Did you have a shotgun or any kind of defense? I would assume
pirates do
not want to leave any witnesses.

Radios. :)

Later,

Tom

Here's another thread on pirates with some good links to other sites.
For everyone who dislikes jet skis, on the second page half way down,
'Fast Fred' has a remedy. Sam

http://boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5659

Most of the arms I'm familiar with that would repel borders are
illegal for civilians to own in most countries including this one.

Damn gun control liberals. :)

A rack of TOWs, a BAR and a .50 cal deck mounted submachine gun where
the fighting chair was located would have made me feel a little
easier. :)

Actually, we were pretty safe as there were three in convoy and I'd
like to believe that we could have damaged them before they got one of
us - even if we lost a boat in the process.

Fortunately, it didn't happen.

By the way, if you ever get a chance to take a trip on a German crewed
freighter, do it.

The food was excellent.

Later,

Tom

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.

I used to skipper a CG gun boat, and we reguarly captured pirates in
that area.