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| Southeast Asia |
| Pirates Connected With International Syndicate |
| 2005-06-17 |
| LANGKAWI, June 16 (Bernama) -- Police believe that the 10 pirates who attempted to hijack the oil tanker Nepline Delima in Langkawi waters on Tuesday have connections with an international syndicate. Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Musa Hassan said Thursday that this was because they had to sell their ill-gotten gains to others. He also did not discount the possibility that more crewmen of the vessel would be arrested on suspicion of providing insider help. Speaking to reporters at the Langkawi International Airport here after being briefed on the incident and investigation, [Deputy Inspector-General Musa] said police were investigating the possibility that the pirates, believed to be Indonesians, were also involved in an earlier hijacking of a commercial ship in the Malacca Strait. ...police had sent a team of divers to the scene to look for weapons because the pirates were believed to have thrown their weapons into the sea before surrendering. Musa said the pirates' motive was to seize the tanker and sell the RM12 million worth of diesel that it was carrying... he said police had no proof that the pirates came from a mother ship because at the time of the 4am incident they only used a fibre glass speedboat. He said that with the speedboat, they could flee to any of the islands in Malaysian or Thai waters after hijacking commercial ships or tankers. Asked whether the pirates had links with separatist groups in Indonesia, he said the matter was being investigated. He said investigations so far showed that insiders in the form of crew members were involved... two Indonesian crewmen and the 10 pirates had been remanded and would be charged once there was sufficient evidence against them while the other crew members were still here to help in the investigation. Musa, in a ceremony at the Bukit Malut marine police base here, presented commendation letters from the Inspector-General of Police to Mohamed, 28, and 24 officers and personnel of the marine police patrol boat PZ15 that arrested the pirates. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #2 Ummm... ransoom? Or maybe a high speed LOL run to the outlaw ports of VZ? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-06-17 12:19 |
| #1 My apologies - I left the question mark off the end of the headline. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2005-06-17 00:58 |