Two hostages freed: Officer

Two hostages freed: Officer

Puji Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru

After more than a week, a group of criminals claiming to be members of the secessionist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Sunday finally freed two hostages, a senior Navy officer said on Monday.

The hostages, both crew members on the tanker Tri Samudra Intermoda, were flown to Jakarta after PT Humpuss Transport Tbk., the owner of the ship, paid a ransom of Rp 600 million (US$64,000). This was less than the Rp 2 billion earlier demanded by the pirates, said Lt. Col. Nora Lelyana, chief of Dumai Naval Base.

The officer said that the tanker was hijacked on Saturday, March 12. "The two are in good health," she said.

Nora said that the release had not involved security personnel. The pirates had threatened that they would kill the hostages if they discovered security personnel involved in the negotiations.

From Lhokseumawe waters, the two were taken to a Lhokseumawe beach, then transported to Medan by car, where the exchange of ransom and hostages took place between the pirates and representatives of PT Humpuss Transport.

The two hostages were identified as Made Marjuned, the tanker captain, and Andi Sulaiman, the head machinist.

The tanker, which was carrying methanol, was on its way from Samarinda, East Kalimantan to Medan. It was hijacked by a group of 30 armed men in Berhala waters, North Sumatra on March 12.

The pirates stole Rp 25 million from the tanker's crew, and took hostage two crew members.

The remaining 14 crew then took the ship to the Sei Pakning seaport in Bengkalis regency, Riau province for security reasons. All of them have returned to Jakarta.