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Armed pirates abduct two crew members from fishing trawler


Pirates
armed with M16 rifles boarded the fishing trawler F/B Sri Dewi 1 while the
vessel was underway off eastern Sabah, Malaysia, and abducted two Indonesian
crew members on September 11, 2018.

The perpetrators then headed towards Sitangkai,
Tawi-Tawi in a motorboat with the two abducted seafarers, identified as the
boat master and assistant boat master.

The incident was reported by the crew members of the
sister vessel F/B Dwi Jaya to Eastern Security Command (ESSCOM) in Malaysia.

“Upon receipt of
the information, the PCG District Southwestern Mindanao (CGDSWM) immediately
dispatched PCG vessel MRRV 4408 to augment with CG Station Tawi-Tawi and Joint
Task Force Tawi-Tawi in its pursuit operations against the perpetrators. 

Likewise, the law enforcement authorities in Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu and
Tawi-Tawi intensified its monitoring and networking to establish the location
and status of the kidnap victims,”
 Asian
piracy watchdog ReCAAP ISC said.

Fishing boats Sri Dewi 1 and Dwi Jaya 1 were manned by
15 crew/fishermen and had been on fishing venture in the seawaters of Pulau
Gaya, Sabah for three days. At the time of the incident, there were only four
crew left on board the two fishing boats while the other 11 crew went to
mainland.

According to ReCAAP ISC, this is the first crew
abduction reported in 2018 in waters in Sulu-Celebes Seas.

The last actual incident reported to ReCAAP ISC
occurred on board Super Shuttle Tug 1 on 23 Mar 17, and the last attempted
incident occurred on board Kudos 1 on 16 Feb 18.

“As the threat of abduction of crew in the
Sulu-Celebes Seas and off eastern Sabah still remains, ReCAAP ISC maintains its
advisory issued via the ReCAAP ISC Incident Alert dated 21 November 2016 to all
ships to reroute from the area, where possible.

Otherwise, ship masters and crew
are strongly urged to exercise extra vigilance while transiting the
Sulu-Celebes Seas and eastern Sabah region, and report immediately to the
Centres as shown in map below,”
 ReCAAP said.

The incident is being reported as three abducted
fishermen were released after spending over a year in captivity. The three
Indonesian crew of Malaysian fishing banca were abducted by nine armed
perpetrators in January 2017, woff Bakungan Island, Taganak, Tawi-tawi. The
terms of their release were not disclosed.
World Maritime News.

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