Malaysians taken by suspected RI pirates

Malaysians taken by suspected RI pirates

MALAYSIA: Machine-gun-wielding pirates attacked at least two
Malaysian fishing boats in the Strait of Malacca early on Monday
and abducted two fishermen, officials and witnesses said.

Fishing crews from two Malaysian boats described a large
trawler approaching them in the strait shortly after midnight.
They were boarded by gunmen, whom the sailors suspected were
Indonesians and who demanded to know who the captain was,
national news agency Bernama, reported.

One of the skippers was taken away on the trawler. In the
other incident, the brother of the captain was taken after the
skipper told the kidnappers he was ill, Bernama reported.

Ho Cheng Wang, an assemblyman from Perak state near where the
abductions occurred, said authorities were investigating reports
of two more boardings overnight on Monday. --AP