S'pore steps up coastal patrols

S'pore steps up coastal patrols

SINGAPORE (AP): Singapore authorities are stepping up coastal patrols in the country's northern waters to guard against illegal immigration and other problems such as piracy, police said on Friday.

Singapore police spokesman Stanley Norbert said illegal immigration was on the rise, but said he could not immediately release statistics on the increase or the nationalities of people trying to sneak into the wealthy Southeast Asian city-state.

The island of Singapore is separated by narrow straits from Malaysia to the north and Indonesia to the south. Norbert said the increased patrols are mainly aimed at illegal immigrants, but that preventing piracy in Singapore waters was also a goal.

Nearly two-thirds of the 68 incidents of piracy reported worldwide in the first three months of this year occurred in Southeast Asian waters, according to the latest statistics from the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center.