Adon (centre) inspecting the jetty during his official visit to Maritime District (DM) 5, Kuala Linggi in Alor Gajah. — Bernama photo
ALOR GAJAH: A total of 12 attacks by pirates have been reported from January until now in waters under the purview of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
Southern Region enforcement chief First Maritime Admiral Adon Shalan said of the total, eight cases were successfully handled without involving any injury.
“These cases were successfully solved following early tip-off before the officers and MMEA personnel ran the operations.
“Most of the cases involved robbing ships of oil and there were some which involved the theft of ship spare parts,” he told reporters after an official visit to Maritime District 5 in Linggi here, yesterday.
He was comparing the statistics to that of last year, where there were 15 reported cases of pirate attacks, of which seven were resolved.
The Southern Region has a total of four maritime districts (MD), namely Klang (MD4), Linggi (MD5), Johor Baharu (MD6) and Tanjung Sedili (MD7) besides the Mersing and Batu Pahat maritime bases.
In the meantime, Adon said the cooperation of all parties was needed to help MMEA combat crime at sea quickly and effectively to safeguard the security of the people and the country.
He said MMEA always conducted various programmes with the community and residents living near the waters in the Southern Region to sensitise them about the roles and responsibilities of the MMEA.
“Cooperation with the residents and community is indispenseble to MMEA in combating crime at sea,” he said. — Bernama