Thugs have threatened the crew of a tug and stolen a 3,000-litre cargo of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) from a barge it was towing off Malaysia.
A crewmember was said to have been punched in the face by one of the perpetrators during the incident which took place off Sarawak on the 2 June.
Details of the incident come in an alert from the Singapore-based Regional Co-operation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre (ISC).
The vessel’s owners had earlier reported to the Sarawak and Sabah Shipowners’ Association (SSSA) that they had lost communication with the ships.
The vessels involved, the tug Ever Prosper and the barge Ever Dignity, were later spotted off Mukah, Sarawak at 09:00 on Friday by a sister tug from the same company.
The ReCAAP ISC reported the incident to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) which immediately dispatched two naval vessels.
The MMEA reported that the perpetrators had robbed the crew and pumped out the 3,000 litres of CPKO the night before, and entered Bintulu port after completing the transfer.
The Ever Prosper and Ever Dignity were also escorted into Bintulu port early on Saturday morning and the injured crew was taken to hospital.
“This is the second incident of hijacking of ship for oil cargo theft in 2016. The first oil cargo theft occurred on 8 May 15 off Pulau Belitung, Indonesia,” said ReCAAP.
However, on that occasion the attack was successfully foiled by the Indonesian authorities who intercepted and boarded the hijacked vessel, rescued the crew, arrested the perpetrators and recovered the full cargo.
