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Thai tanker robbed of diesel cargo off Kuantan, Malaysia

Thai tanker robbed of diesel cargo off Kuantan, Malaysia
The hijack-and-siphon trick seems to be making a resurgence in Southeast Asian waters with reports of a group of armed pirates attacking a Thai product tanker and making off with 1.5m litres of diesel last Friday.

According to a ReCAAP ISC report, the CP41 was boarded by pirates about 25nm off Kuantan on the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia while it was en route from Singapore to Songkhla province in southern Thailand.

The report said that at about 9pm six pirates, all speaking Bahasa Indonesia, boarded the vessel and armed with guns and knives, locked the master and crew in the engine room.

The ship's engineer was ordered to siphon the cargo from the tanker to the pirates' vessel. It is estimated about 1.5m litres of diesel was transferred.The hijackers released all the crew unharmed at about 4.20am the next morning and left the vessel after destroying communications equipment.

The CP41 was transporting a total of some 3.8m litres of diesel, and is currently anchored off Songkhla while awaiting investigations.

Fuel siphoning attacks, while once frequent in Southeast Asian water, had stopped for some time, with ReCAAP ISC noting that the last similar incident was reported in October last year.