We cover piracy, armed robbery at sea, IUU fishing, maritime cyber security and maritime security issues.
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s dusk-to-dawn sea curfew will be extended for another two weeks until June 10, 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
A crew sailing off the coast of Singapore had a close encounter with pirates late last week, according to a new report from ReCAAP, the south east Asian anti-piracy center.
A tug-and-barge was heading westbound about five miles southwest-by-west off the coast of Singapore on Sunday. That’s in the narrow strait between Singapore and Malaysia on one side and Indonesia on the other. The tug master reported by radio that six pirates were boarding the barge “Smit Cyclone”.
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Source: freightwaves.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
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
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
SEMPORNA: The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) detained two men last night in the waters off Pulau Bum Bum near here, after they tried to smuggle out 150 barrels of petrol to the Philippines.
Director of the Semporna Maritime Zone, Maritime Commander Norrimi Hassan said the MMEA team was on a routine patrol when it came upon a suspicious-looking cargo boat which was manned by two Filipino men aged 60 and 40 years before detaining it at 8 pm.
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Source: thesundaily.my
A total of 10 incidents of armed robbery against ships (comprising nine actual incidents and one attempted incident) were reported in Asia during January-March 2019 compared to 21 incidents (comprising 15 actual incidents and six attempted incidents) during January-March 2018. This accounts for a 52% decrease in the total number of incidents reported during January-March 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.
The number of actual incidents has also decreased by 40% during January-March 2019 compared to January-March 2018. Both the total number of incidents and number of actual incidents reported during January-March 2019 are the lowest among the period of January-March of 13-year (2007-2019).
The full report is attached here as a PDF.
Source: recaap.org
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