Armed pirates abduct five Thai fishermen

Armed pirates abduct five Thai fishermen

MALAYSIA: Pirates armed with assault rifles abducted five Thai fishermen from their boat in the Strait of Malacca and are demanding ransoms for their release, police said on Tuesday.

About 20 pirates rammed their speedboat into the trawler then stormed aboard, destroying its communications equipment and threatened the crew of about 30 men in the attack last Thursday in Malaysian waters near Penang island.

District police chief Wahab Embong said the pirates forced five of crewmen, who were employed by a Malaysian fishing company, onto their boat before escaping.

The New Straits Times newspaper reported that the pirates spoke with Indonesian accents. Wahab declined to say if the attackers were suspected to be Indonesians, but said police had sought help from Indonesian authorities. --AP