Three crew members abducted
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – NEWS reaching this publication states that a vessel carrying a Japanese name, allegedly registered in St. Kitts and Nevis, was today (Apr. 23) robbed of millions of liters of diesel off Malaysia.
According to ABSCBNNEWS.COM, the Malaysia state-run Bernama news agency reported that five men, two of whom were armed with pistols and one with a machete, siphoned off two million liters of diesel from the vessel and abducted three of its 18-member crew.
“But shipping sources later said the Singapore-operated vessel, registered in St. Kitts and Nevis, is no longer Japanese, having been sold by a Japanese shipping company last year to a broker. They said its captain and crew are believed to be Indonesian,” the online media outlet said.
Citing marine police, Bernama said that the ship was accosted about 16 nautical miles from Pulau Ketam, a small island off the coast of Port Klang in Selangor state, early yesterday morning as it was on its way from Singapore to Myanmar with five million liters of fuel.
ABSCBNNEWS.COM noted that Port Klang Marine Police Commanding Officer DSP Norzaid Muhammad Said was quoted as saying that the robbers siphoned off the fuel to two tankers, taking between seven and eight hours to do, after tying up the crew, including the captain.
"They then left the ship," he said, noting that the captain and crew remaining on the vessel did not suffer any injury.
