March 17, 2020, 04:51 PM
A sea robbery attempt in the Singapore Strait was thwarted on early Monday, March 16, by the Indonesian Navy, through close collaboration between the Singapore and Indonesian authorities.
Here's how the operation went down.
Ship crew locked pirates in engine room
According to a news release by Singapore's Ministry of Defence (Mindef), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore's Port Operations Control Centre received a report at 5:11am from Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Sam Jaguar.
It stated that robbers had boarded their ship in the waters east of Pulau Karimum Kecil, Indonesia.
Image via Mindef
Fortunately, the ship crew had managed to lock the pirates in the engine room.
Singapore navy sprung into action
The Republic of Singapore Navy's (RSN) Maritime Security Task Force (MSTF) then monitored the vessel closely, ready to respond should the vessel enter Singapore territorial waters,
In addition, they despatched the Littoral Mission Vessel RSS Independence and Police Coast Guard craft towards the vessel's location.
Indonesian navy acted swiftly on information shared by Singapore
At the same time, the RSN's Information Fusion Centre (IFC) shared information on the incident and perpetrators with the Indonesia authorities.
The Indonesian Navy then deployed two ships and one helicopter to hail and board the Sam Jaguar that was in Indonesian territorial waters.
Acting on the information they received, they successfully caught the three robbers.
Mindef added that the ship crew were safe and unharmed.
Close working relationship between Singaporean and Indonesian navies
The capture of the pirates were successful due to the "good cooperation and quick response" between Singaporean and Indonesian enforcement agencies, IFC Head, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Ow, said.
Image via Mindef
He added: "By working closely together with the shipping community and littoral states to monitor our waters and share information, we can quickly cue operational responses and keep up the pressure on sea robbers to bring sea robbery incidents down."
Rise in piracy incidents
The Singapore Strait experienced a rise in piracy and armed robbery incidents against ships in recent years, spiking from seven in 2018 to 31 in 2019, according to the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP).
This was a significant rise from eight reported incidents in 2017, and two in 2016.
The number of piracy and armed robbery cases rose in Asia as well, from 76 reported incidents in 2018 to 82 reported incidents in 2019.
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Top image via Mindef
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