Bangladeshi cargo vessel escapes pirate attack in Tawi-Tawi waters

From the Mindanao Examiner (Mar 8, 2021): Bangladeshi cargo vessel escapes pirate attack in Tawi-Tawi waters

A Bangladeshi bulk carrier, the Akij Pearl, escaped pirates who tried to board the cargo vessel while sailing off Sibutu Island in the southern Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi near the Malaysian border, reports said.


Akij Pearl

The incident, which occurred on March 3, was only reported Sunday by the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre which immediately issued a warning and urged ship master and crew to exercise extra vigilance when transiting the waters off Eastern Sabah and in the Sulu-Celebes Seas, in particular waters off Sibutu Island.

ReCAAP stands for Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia.

“While the bulk carrier was underway, an unidentified speed boat with three perpetrators on board attempted to board the ship. The master reported the incident to the Philippine Navy Littoral Monitoring Station,” ReCAAP said.

The 190-meter cargo vessel, built in 2005 by the Mitsui Tamano Engineering and Shipbuilding in Japan, departed the port of Taicang in Jiangsu province in China on February 2, according to a report by the Marine Traffic Terrestrial Automatic Identification System.

It was unclear whether the pirates were members of the pro-ISIS group Abu Sayyaf who operate in the area. But in January last year, Abu Sayyaf terrorists hijacked a Malaysian trawler and kidnapped eight of its crew members and brought to Sulu province.

ReCAAP reported that at least 86 crew members had been kidnapped in the area since March 2016.

The Malaysian state of Sabah has also extended its curfew hours and is now on heightened due to threats posed by the terror group Abu Sayyaf.

Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Hazani Ghazali said the curfew hours runs from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and covers areas up to three nautical miles off Tawau, Semporna, Kunak, Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan, Sandakan and Beluran - all near the border of Tawi-Tawi’s chain of islands.

The curfew which was supposed to end February 28 was extended until March 16. It was imposed in July 2014 following a series of Abu Sayyaf kidnappings which saw the beheading of kidnapped Sarawak man Bernard Then Ted Fed and the killing of several others, including a policeman and tourists.

“There is a need to continue the curfew in these waters to prevent the encroachment of terrorists and criminals who can threaten the safety of locals, international researchers and tourists on islands,” Malaysian media quoted Ghazali as saying.

Ghazali, citing unnamed intelligence sources, said kidnap-for-ransom groups and Abu Sayyaf militants are still trying to attack and commit cross-border crimes. “We also want to ensure the safety of the people of Sabah who use the waters and are staying near the Esszone,” he said.

Malaysian newspaper The Star also quoted Ghazali saying that the curfew was to facilitate enforcement and monitoring of boat activities in the areas, as well as establish a sense of security with nearby chalet owners and fishermen through the presence of a security team.

Malaysia and Indonesia have a border patrol agreement with the Philippines and share regular intelligence and conduct trilateral maritime patrols to prevent piracy and terrorism, including ransom kidnappings of sailors in the maritime borders.

The Philippine military previously said that security is tight in the border to prevent Abu Sayyaf kidnappings inside Sabah or in the waters of Tawi-Tawi which is frequented by cargo boats. Security forces have been targeting militants in Tawi-Tawi, Sulu and Basilan provinces forcing a number of terrorists to surrender. (Mindanao Examiner)

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