Indonesian Police Bust Pirate Gang in Riau Islands
Police in Indonesia's Riau Islands have broken up a ring of pirates who were allegedly engaged in serial armed robberies in the Phillips Channel, a notorious hotspot for criminal activity.
Acting on tips from the public and from Singapore's International Maritime Bureau (IMB), the Directorate of Water and Air Police in the Riau Islands launched a patrol in piracy-prone areas of the strait. The tip was accurate, and the authorities busted a gang of eight male suspects in the act of stealing stores from a vessel, identified as the "MT Thom Elisabeth." (No ship by this name exists in international databases; it is possible that it is a coastal vessel.)
The police told local Batam News Asia that the suspects have been active since 2017. The gang was allegedly in the practice of using methamphetamine before each of their heists, and the substance was found in the possession of one of the suspects during the bust. The drugs fueled their intimidation tactics and enabled risk-taking, "even jumping into the sea if threatened," agency director Kombes Handono Subiakto told Batam News.
To select targets, the suspects allegedly used standard online ship-tracking tools to hone in on ships that would slow down to five knots or less while passing through the narrow strait. Then they would board these vulnerable targets at night, taking spare engine parts that could be resold for a profit in Jakarta. Their maximum earnings from a heist came to about $6,000 per boarding.
While unarmed at the time of capture, the gang was allegedly in possession of an airgun that they had used to threaten crewmembers; the police also believe that they had homemade firearms as well, but not in their possession at the time of arrest.
The bust is significant, as it comes amidst a major resurgence of maritime crime in the Strait of Malacca. According to the IMB ICC, the area saw 57 incidents of maritime armed robbery in the first half of 2025, up from just 15 in the same period last year. At least three more criminal gangs are still believed to be operating in the same region, so the threat - which has waxed and waned for years - is still far from over.
Phillips Channel is just south of Jurong Island, where ships make the turn between the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Singapore. The turn forces vessels to slow down, making them more vulnerable to boarding by criminal gangs, who often threaten the crew and make off with valuable stores.