Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi steps up sea patrol to deter kidnapping

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 24): Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi steps up sea patrol to deter kidnapping

The Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi has beefed up the conduct of seaborne patrol to deter the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) from staging kidnapping in the high seas of the southern Philippines.

Rear Admiral Rene Medina, commander of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao (NFWM), on Friday announced that additional vessels were deployed to the Joint Task Forces Tawi-Tawi and Sulu for maritime interdiction and support to law enforcement operations in the Sulu Sea.

Medina disclosed the naval component of the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi has thwarted a recent kidnapping attempt by the ASG in the waters of Tawi-Tawi province.

Medina said the attempt was prevented as Navy ships were immediately deployed in response to a distress call from a Panamanian-flag carrier, M/V Dong Hae Star, at 10 a.m. Wednesday, February 22.

He said the M/V Dong Hae Star reported to the Littoral Monitoring Station (LMS) in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi that suspicious black speedboats with five persons each on board was pursuing them in the sea waters off Pearl Bank.

He said the Panamanian-flag vessel, at the time it transmitted the distress call, was transiting in the Sulu Sea from China to Indonesia.

He said the M/V Dong Hae Star later transmitted a radio message that the speedboats stopped chasing them and maneuvered to the open sea upon sighting the responding Navy ships.

He said the Navy ships under the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi continue to patrol the area in the Sulu sea.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=966917