Malaysia says its beating back Malacca Strait piracy

Malaysia says its beating back Malacca Strait piracy

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): High-speed patrol boats and overnight
surveillance have helped Malaysia sharply cut the number of
pirate attacks in the Strait of Malacca, a senior police officer
said on Thursday.

Pirates attacked 32 vessels in the narrow straits between
Malaysia and Indonesia's island of Sumatra, one of the world's
busiest shipping lanes, in the first nine months of last year.

Attacks worldwide for the whole of 2000 jumped 57 percent and
left 72 sailors dead, according to the International Maritime
Bureau, which runs the Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur.

In the first four months of this year only three attacks were
reported in Malaysia's stretch of the Strait, Malaysian Marine
Police Chief Mohamad Muda told Reuters.

Only one was successful, he said in a phone interview from
southern Johor state.

Mohamad credited the fall to a task force set up to fight
piracy. Equipped with six high-speed boats, the force cruises the
Strait nightly between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m.

"We are stronger. If they attack any ship in the Strait of
Malacca they know we will go after them. We have created a sense
of fear in the enemy," Mohamad said.

"The trend of incidents has shifted from Malaysian to
Indonesian waters," he added.

The Strait of Malacca also passes through Singapore and
Indonesian territory.

Indonesian waters recorded the highest number of piracies with
119 incidents last year. No figures were immediately available
for attacks in 2001.

Mohamad said despite the fall in incidents off Malaysia's
coast, police would still follow any ship that requested an
escort as it passed through its waters.

Police also recommend that ships move in a convoy and not late
at night.

The International Maritime Bureau has blamed political unrest
and economic recession in Indonesia for the wave of attacks in
the Strait.