Watchdog urges Malaysia to move swiftly against pirates

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - An international maritime watchdog on Wednesday urged Malaysian authorities to move swiftly to prevent another spate of pirate attacks in the Malacca Strait following a kidnapping this week.

On Monday, 10 heavily armed pirates boarded a barge carrying steel billets from Malaysia's northern Penang state and seized the ship master and engineer, said Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur.

The gunmen left six other crew members unharmed, but destroyed the barge's communication system before fleeing.
The attack is the third in the waterway this year, but the first time since July 2005 that crew members have been kidnapped, Choong said.

"We urge the Malaysian authorities to take quick action to immediately contain this problem. We are concerned that it would be the start of another series of kidnappings in the area," Choong told AFP.

He said that if unchecked, the situation had the potential to deteriorate into something similar to Somalia, where pirates frequently board and hijack ships on the long unpatrolled coastline.

More than 30 percent of world trade and half of the world's oil shipments pass through the Malacca Straits, which is shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
The stretch has been prone to piracy in the past, but international pressure over concerns it could also be used for terrorist attacks has led to a more concerted effort at joint patrols.

Pirate attacks have dropped in the past three years, Choong said.
Owners of the vessel boarded on Monday are now trying to establish contact with the pirates to secure the release of the kidnapped men, Choong said.

"Mostly likely they will demand ransom. They had no interest in the vessel and its cargo," Choong said, adding that the barge and its remaining crew were taken by authorities to a nearby port in Belawan, Indonesia.