We cover piracy, armed robbery at sea, IUU fishing, maritime cyber security and maritime security issues.
By Ankit Panda
A U.S. Navy warship joined two Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) for a cooperative deployment in the strategic Malacca Strait on May 18.
USS William P. Lawrence, a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, joined the MSDF’s Izumo-class helicopter carrier JS Izumo and Murasame-class destroyer JS Murasame in the Malacca Strait.
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Source: thediplomat.com
By Meghan Curran
On the morning of January 27, 2019, two bombs exploded inside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in Jolo on the Sulu Province in the southern Philippines. Tearing a hole through the cathedral during a Sunday service, the bombs claimed 20 lives, injured dozens more, and propelled Islamist extremism in the Philippines back into international headlines. In the aftermath of the blast, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte promised to “pursue to the ends of the Earth the ruthless perpetrators behind [the] dastardly crime,”as the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), the country’s notoriously violent Islamic separatist group, claimed responsibility for the attack. While President Duterte may not need to go to the “ends of the Earth” to put an end to the ASG-fueled terror, his government will certainly need to act beyond its own shores. Illicit maritime activities are at the root of ASG funding and operations, and ensuring the group’s defeat will require focused government efforts to improve maritime security in its area of operations.
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Source: cimsec.org
SULU: Philippine National Police (PNP) Sulu Provincial Commander Pablo Labra reported Saturday that a Dutch hostage abducted by the Abu Sayyaf militants seven years has joined the terrorist group.
Identified as 57-year old Ewold Horn, Labra said the kidnap victim turned outlaw together with Swiss national Lorenzo Vinciguerra were adopted by Abu Sayyaf militants and suspected MNLF members in Tawi-Tawi in 2012.
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Source:dailyexpress.com.my
By Betheena Kae Unite
An American vessel that will conduct several exercises and improve the maritime security capabilities of the United States Coast Guard and the Philippines’ arrived in Manila Wednesday.
The United States Coast Guard National Security Cutter Bertholf, with its commanding officer Captain John Discroll, arrived at Pier 15 in Manila, following the capability training exercise conducted by both nations’ Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea Tuesday.
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Source: news.mb.com.ph
The first leg of the Border Coordinated Patrol of the Philippine and Indonesian navies has ended, with the aim of securing the common border between the two countries and stop maritime and sea crimes including smuggling and piracy.
The patrol ships of both countries were expected to have reached their final point in the territorial waters of Indonesia along the Celebes Sea on Saturday.
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Source: gmanetwork.com
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s dusk-to-dawn sea curfew which ends today (May 10) will be extended for another two weeks until May 26 (Sunday), says Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah.
He said the extension of the 6pm-to-6am curfew was needed due to continuous threats from cross-border criminals, including from kidnap-for-ransom groups.
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Source: thestar.com.my
MANILA, May 2 (Xinhua) — The Philippines and Indonesia kicked off on Thursday their joint patrol in the Sulu-Celebes Seas, a move aimed at strengthening security cooperation to combat piracy, smuggling and maritime attacks in the region.
“The main mission is to secure the common border, to curtail maritime crimes, and stop various sea crimes like smuggling and piracy,” Ezra Balagtey, spokesman for the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said in a statement.
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Source: xinhuanet.com
Malaysia will receive six ScanEagle 2 Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) later this year while Indonesia will receive an equal number in 2022 under the United States funded Maritime Security Initiative (MSI).
US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver said during a media round-table in Kuala Lumpur last week that the Philippines had received six ScanEagle 2 UAS in 2018 as part of the MSI policy.
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Source: defenseworld.net
Indonesia next weekend plans to sink dozens of foreign boats that were seized after straying illegally into its waters, including many vessels from Vietnam, the fisheries minister said Monday amid fresh maritime tensions between Hanoi and Jakarta near the South China Sea.
Also on Monday, Indonesia’s foreign ministry said it summoned Hanoi’s deputy ambassador after the Indonesian navy claimed that two Vietnamese coast guard vessels had rammed one of its naval ships patrolling against illegal fishing near Indonesia’s Natuna Islands.
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Source: rfa.org
MIRI: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) District 13 (D13) seized 5,000 litres of diesel worth RM11,000 and arrested four Indonesian crew members of a tugboat aged between 23 and 30 during an operation here on April 25.
In a statement to the media on Friday night, MMEA D13 director Captain Md Fauzi Othman said the suspicious tugboat was first sighted two nautical miles from the MMEA boat which was carrying out operation in Kuala Baram waters.
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Source: theborneopost.com
Maritime Security News 