Menace of the seas: piracy around Singapore waters

Straits Times 4 Dec 09;

With pirate attacks in the seas around Singapore experiencing a resurgence after several years of relative lull, Mavis Toh heads to Batam to speak to pirates past and present about their exploits.

FOR one month, 28-year-old Sastra Genting worked as a cleaner on board a Singapore-registered oil tanker - but it was not the job he was there for.

He found out the vessel's planned route, the number of crew on board, their schedule and responsibilities and also took pictures of the ship.

He then passed the information to his boss, a pirate syndicate chief known to him only as Pang. Mr Sastra does not know if the ship was ever attacked.

For his deed, which took place a few years ago, he got $30,000.

The money is what attracts able-bodied men without education or a future to a criminal career, said Mr Danny Abdullah, known in his hometown of Nagoya, in Batam, as the 'One-Eyed Pirate' because of the eye he lost in prison.

'Most of us didn't go to school and we can't find jobs. When we attack ships, we get good money,' Mr Danny, 38, told The Straits Times. 'If there are attacks and the boss calls, I will go anytime. My four children and wife need to eat.'

A ready pool of men like former pirates Sastra and Danny - hungry, jobless and at a loss - keeps piracy alive in Batam, the place some point to as the 'pirate hub' of South-east Asia, and elsewhere in the region.

In recent months, the South China Sea passage flanked by Indonesia's Anambas Islands and Pulau Tioman off Malaysia's east coast has surfaced as a potential hot spot for sea robbers.

Piracy there has hit a five-year high with 11 successful and two attempted attacks so far this year, surpassing the previous record of nine for the whole of 2005.

Sea robbers have also been active in the Strait of Malacca and Strait of Singapore, boarding ships on five occasions so far this year, along with two failed attempts.

While joint patrols operated by several countries have successfully curbed the number of attacks, pirate syndicates are still operating from Batam to Sulawesi.

Mr Danny told The Straits Times he belongs to a syndicate which funds about 15 other groups in Batam, Medan, Jakarta and Palembang. Each group has 10 to 15 men and they all fall under the same boss.

He has seen the boss several times but knows him only as Pang, a Malaysian Chinese businessman in his 60s who is said to have a house on Batam.

Pang gives out information on the vessels he wants attacked but does not join his men in any of the assaults. Only the most trusted have his contact details.

He keeps his men loyal by visiting those who are caught and jailed, and also giving them a weekly sum of 500,000 rupiah (S$73) so their families do not go hungry.

Mr Sastra, who is known as 'Genting Botak' among pirates and was introduced to Pang when he was just 17, said: 'He's the king... everyone who wants to be a pirate must know him.'

Three of his fellow pirates told The Straits Times that big attacks are planned meticulously and proceed only when reliable insider information can be obtained.

A team of pirates is then assembled and given a lump sum for food, lodging, weapons and transport.

For such an attack, at least two men in the group would carry guns, often bought in Batam or Malaysia. The rest are armed with machetes.

In 2004, Mr Sastra was flown to Samarinda in East Kalimantan for a heist on an oil tanker. Gathered in a hotel room were 15 men, who were given details of the vessel and their roles.

Over the next few days, they got together equipment like ropes and parangs. On the night of the attack, the men set off in two engine-powered sampans, arriving around the time they had been told the crew would be having dinner.

True enough, the masked men climbed undeterred up hooked ropes onto the oil tanker. On board, two pirates holding pistols headed for the captain.

Once captured, he was made to open the safe where the crew's salary was kept. The others were tied up and robbed of all valuables, save for their wedding rings. The crew members were then locked in a cabin.

Shortly afterwards, a separate team of pirates arrived in a vessel to siphon off the tanker's oil. These fuel thieves also handed the first group a promised sum for its role in the deal.

Both groups then sped off in separate directions. The attack took no more than two hours.

'I got $20,000, but the leader can get up to $100,000,' said Mr Sastra. 'The big boss gets profit from the oil he sells.'

But such lucrative assignments from the boss are hard to come by, especially in recent years when police patrols have been ramped up.

Sometimes the information is wrong and the heist is called off at the last minute, with that unreliable crew member never being used again.

Mr Danny recalled how he was recently flown to Medan with nine others where they stayed for a month. Their attack on an oil tanker was called off when the leader found out they had the wrong information.

To get by, the pirates mount smaller attacks in ragtag bands, staking out boats from nearby islands and going for slow-moving vessels such as tugboats.

They usually get away with between $5,000 and 8,000 worth of cellphones, jewellery and cash. But the men often lose their cash fast, splurging on trips, alcohol, drugs and girls.

One thing that is for sure: the easy money comes with a price.

Mr Danny once found himself swimming for two hours in the waters off Kalimantan when an attack went wrong. He and his gang were climbing up a vessel when an armed guard fired at them.

He also became blind in one eye after he was arrested - on his wedding night in June 1999 when 27 policemen stormed his house.

He was interrogated for information on his accomplices in an attack on a container ship.

In that attack, he and four others armed with parangs climbed up a ship passing through the Strait of Malacca and robbed the crew of 280 million rupiah worth of cellphones, jewellery and cash.

These days, he is a part-time mover, while Mr Sastra sells vegetables in a market. But both men said they would take to the high seas if called upon.

According to Mr Hosea Tobing, 58, a broker for seafarers and shipping firms, even more men could have turned to piracy since the recession due to lack of jobs.

Every day, groups hang out at a line of coffee shops in Nagoya, where the island's brokers are - hoping to land a job. They can wait up to six months for an opening at times.

'They need to make a living and there are not enough jobs,' said Mr Tobing. 'So they will do whatever to survive - and it includes attacking ships for money. They don't have a choice.'

We like hitting Singapore ships, says ex-pirate
Mavis Toh, Straits Times 4 Dec 09;

HE SITS in a corner of the coffee shop, chain-smoking through packs of unfiltered cigarettes and sipping hot tea.

Mr Norman's engine-powered sampan, once used in many a pirate raid on unsuspecting ships, now lies mostly unused in a nearby dock in Belakang Padang - an Indonesian island north-west of Batam and 25 minutes from the Singapore coast.

A few years ago, the town with a population of 19,000 was notorious as a haven for sea pirates. At its peak, piracy was the career of many of the town's young men.

But after the Indonesian authorities stepped up sea patrols around the island, Mr Norman, 31, and others like him opted out of that career and took up fishing, taxi boat operations or ran small food stalls.

Mr Norman now uses his sampan to shuttle villagers between the sleepy town of Belakang Padang and Batam for 8,000 rupiah (S$1.20) for the 20-minute journey. But he hardly leaves his regular seat at the coffee shop these days till it is time to head home. Business is poor as there are many other boat operators, mostly ex-pirates too, competing for an already tiny customer base.

On a good day, Mr Norman makes no more than 200,000 rupiah - barely enough to feed his wife and two school-going children. He was reluctant to speak much of his pirate past in the coffee shop and agreed to talk only on his sampan. Once out at sea, Mr Norman spoke of how he was once part of a gang of pirates who used to terrorise ships sailing past Belakang Padang.

Mr Norman and his gang of eight would head to a nearby island, Pulau Letong, every evening to observe passing ships.

They made use of night-vision binoculars to pick out likely targets. 'Once we spotted one, we circled the ship to make sure that there were no guards before we attacked,' he said in Bahasa Indonesia.

His friend Hashim, a former pirate and now a taxi boat operator, said ships from Singapore, Panama, Hong Kong, Greece and India were common targets. It did not matter if the vessel was an oil tanker, a cargo ship or a tugboat. All that mattered was the cash and valuables the crew had on board.

Mr Hashim said: 'We especially like Singapore ships as they carry Singapore dollars and we can use the money easily in Batam.'

Mr Hashim, 44, has boarded at least five Singapore-registered ships before.

Armed with parangs, the pirates would spend no more than 15 minutes on each ship. Once the captain had been captured, the rest of the crew usually put up little resistance, they said.

They usually would strike once a night, but sometimes, the gang would have to hit three ships if earlier pickings were poor.

Each man could pocket as much as $5,000 on one night - enough to last them several months.

Mr Norman was arrested once when some villagers ratted on him, but was released soon after due to lack of evidence.

To reduce the chances of being caught, pirates leave the village for a short period after an attack and head to Jakarta to spend on women and alcohol. Both men claimed to have washed their hands of piracy since 2004 but admitted some relatives and friends in the village still do it. 'Nowadays, the police are very strict, so they have to be very careful. No one dares to talk about it openly,' said Mr Hashim.

Villagers interviewed also said pirates sometimes gathered in houses nearby to plan attacks. One pastor said: 'They will attack, disappear for weeks or months, and when things have died down, come back and attack again.'

Tough to catch pirates in the act
Straits Times 4 Dec 09;

THE biggest challenge in foiling piracy attacks is in catching the sea robbers red-handed.

Mr Nicholas Teo, deputy director of anti-piracy group ReCAAP, said the pirates can be caught with their loot only when both the ship captain and the law enforcers react immediately.

But often, ships which have been attacked either keep mum or report late because they do not know that they have been robbed, are too embarrassed or find it too troublesome to file one.

'The sea is such a big place it's hard to catch these guys in the act. After that, by day they look just like anyone on the streets,' said Mr Teo.

Lieutenant-Colonel Yassin Kosasih, director of Riau Islands province's marine police, said their task is made harder as victims report only to the International Maritime Bureau or ReCAAP.

'How can we help investigate such cases and arrest the culprits if there was never a report filed to us?' he said.

His department also lacks the necessary equipment - namely boats that can perform 24-hour patrols.

'We have small boats, those 9m to 10m long,' he said.

He added that although Japan and the United States have given them a total of six boats, it is still insufficient.

Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are currently part of the Malacca Strait Patrol, working to keep that stretch of waters safe.

Lt-Col Yassin said that pirates in Indonesia are mostly from Batam, Palembang and Java.

Unlike pirates from Somalia who hold both ship and crew ransom, Indonesian pirates mostly rob the ships of their cargo and flee.

Lt-Col Yassin cited the example of an attack two weeks ago, where pirates made off with US$3 million (S$4.2 million) worth of spare parts that a vessel was carrying.

'They're mostly unsophisticated. They target those (that are) easy to climb over,' he said.

MAVIS TOH

Batam an ideal base for attacks
Straits Times 4 Dec 09;

Dr Frecon says piracy is a draw for unemployed men.

BATAM is a prime spot for pirates to launch an attack due to a multitude of surrounding islands which offer hiding places both before and after any assault.

The area is also fertile ground for the pirates as 65,000 ships pass by each year.

Batam is strategically located near the Strait of Singapore and the South China Sea.

Piracy expert Eric Frecon, of the Nanyang Technological University's S.Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said: 'Pirates can always escape by going from one island to another. They are also patient and wait for times like national instability or international disorder to leave their haunts and attack ships.'

Dr Frecon, who has studied pirates in the region for nine years, said the criminal activity attracts unemployed young men who have left their native villages in search of a better life in Batam.

'When they can't find work, the easiest way to get money is to be a pirate.'

Captain Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur, said that while pirate syndicates do operate from Batam, they have cut down on the number of attacks due to more vigilant patrols by the Indonesian authorities.

But the number of attacks nearby has been climbing of late.

There were 11 in the South China Sea in the first nine months of this year - a five-year high.

Sea robbers have also been active in the Strait of Malacca and Strait of Singapore.

Pirates have boarded ships on five occasions so far this year and have attempted boardings twice.

This figure, however, pales against the 156 attacks in the Gulf of Aden, near Yemen, from January to September.

Indonesian pirates attack all types of vessels, from tugboats to cargo ships and tankers, Capt Choong said.

One piracy hot spot, said Dr Frecon, is the Belakang Padang island. Being close to both the Singapore Strait and the Phillip Channel, it sees plenty of traffic and makes for a 'pirate hub'.

'It is cut off from the main economic and administrative centres and nobody troubles the pirates,' he said.

Dr Frecon, who has visited Belakang Padang three times, said many of the pirates were notorious gang members even up till the early 2000s.

MAVIS TOH