RI flashpoint for piracy

RI flashpoint for piracy

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Pirates in Southeast Asia are focusing their attacks in Indonesian waters and in the Hong Kong- Philippines-China triangle, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said yesterday.

"Seventeen cases, or 35 percent, of the 48 piracy incidents reported to the IMB in the last five months happened in Indonesian waters," said Stephen Saville, IMB's regional manager for Southeast Asia.

In 1994, the number of piracy attacks around Indonesia doubled to 22 from the previous year, pushing the total number of attacks in Southeast Asian waters to 33 from 15 cases in 1993.

There were seven attacks reported in the Hong Kong-Luzon- Hainan triangle, and three off the Philippines, between January and May, Saville said ahead of IMB's release of a monthly piracy report due later this week.

Officials of IMB's regional piracy center, which is based in Kuala Lumpur, said armed marauders even preyed on ships docked at ports in Indonesia.