Asia-Pacific News

Malaysian marine police rescue hijacked ship, arrest pirates

Jul 21, 2009, 9:46 GMT

   Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian marine police on Tuesday rescued 16 crew members of a Malaysian ship and detained five Indonesian suspected pirates, officials said.

   Six masked men had boarded the PNG Express early Tuesday in waters off Johor state, and tied up the ship's Malaysian captain and 15 crew - all of whom are Thai nationals - before robbing them of their belongings, said federal marine police commander Isa Munir.

   However, less than an hour later, Malaysian marine police acting on a tip-off rescued the crew and gave chase to the fleeing pirates, he was quoted as saying by the Star online news portal.

   Isa said officers managed to detain five of the suspects, adding that a sixth escaped arrest by jumping into the sea.

   'All the suspects are Indonesians with valid passports.

   'We managed to recover all stolen items along with four machetes, four masks and binoculars belonging to the suspects,' said Isa.

   All crew members were unharmed during the incident, he said.