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Another Tanker Robbed off Malaysia

Published Jun 12, 2014 4:06 PM by The Maritime Executive

Suspected pirates assemble on the deck of a dhow near waters off of western Malaysia, January 2006.

A tanker heading to Labuan from Singapore was robbed of its petroleum cargo by six pirates last Saturday, in the latest of what has become a growing menace of fuel robberies in the region.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said the incident happened around 11.30 p.m., when the Malaysian vessel MT Budi Mesra Dua was 78 nautical miles off the Tanjung Batu Bintulu coast, Malaysia.

The Asian pirates approached the tanker on a boat, and were armed with machetes and knives.

They tied up all 22 tanker crewmembers and then transferred the petroleum using a pump to a waiting barge.

Luckily, the captain and crew were unharmed. Malaysian authorities are hunting for the pirates.