SIBU: A tugboat towing a barge with a crew of nine carrying 3,900 tonnes of palm oil was robbed by unknown men in two boats in Sarawak waters between Mukah and Bintulu on Thursday afternoon.
A police report was lodged by the assistant manager of the company in Sandakan on Saturday afternoon.
Marine police were then alerted and their personnel in Mukah set out and found the tugboat and barge with its content siphoned off adrift in the waters near Balingian at 8.20pm with the crew unharmed.
The vessels have been towed back to Bintulu and the seamen rescued.
No further details are available at press-time.
It was still unclear the number of robbers who had came in two boats to commit the sea robbery and whether they were armed.
Before the robbery, the barge and the tugboat left Kidurong port at 1pm on Thursday with the palm oil bound for Port Klang.
The journey west was estimated to take a week.
The robbery is said to have occurred after the seamen had set sail for more than an hour.
The exact location at sea of the robbery was also not confirmed but it is believed to be in the waters between Bintulu and Mukah.
Seven seamen, including one Malaysian and six Indonesians, were on the barge while two other two Indonesians were on the tugboat when the crime occurred.
State police chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Dev Kumar confirmed the report was made when contacted yesterday.
He said the case is being investigated by Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency.