IMB Piracy Report Shows Continued SE Asian Attacks Against Small Tankers
By FLOYD WHALEY APRIL 3, 2016
MANILA — Four sailors from Malaysia were kidnapped off a cargo ship passing close to the southern Philippines on Friday night, less than a week after 10 sailors from Indonesia were abducted nearby, according to police officials from the three countries.
The seizure of the men on Friday was the latest in a series of kidnappings in the lawless waters and coastlines of the southern Philippines in the past year.
More than 18 foreign citizens are being held in the southern Philippines by kidnap-for-ransom groups pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, the Philippine military said.
On Friday, eight armed men in a speedboat stopped a Malaysian cargo ship, the Masfive 6, about 6:15 p.m. near Ligitan, a small island off the eastern coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah, the state police commissioner, Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun, told the Malaysian government-run news agency, Bernama.
The vessel was empty after unloading a shipment of timber in Manila and was released by the armed men along with five crew members fromIndonesia and Myanmar, the Malaysian police said.
All four of the abducted sailors are from the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo, the police said.
A spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, Charles Jose, said Sunday that the Philippines was in the process of verifying the abduction.
Also on Sunday, Col. Restituto Padilla Jr., a spokesman for the armed forces of the Philippines, said the military was working with Malaysian officials to investigate.
On March 26, armed men in a speedboat kidnapped 10 Indonesian sailors from a tugboat near the same area of the southwestern Philippines. The Indonesian police said later that the kidnappers had contacted the Indonesian owner of the vessel and had made ransom demands.
Marc Singer, a director with Pacific Strategies & Assessments, a risk mitigation firm that tracks insurgent groups in the Philippines, said both recent abductions were probably the work of a criminal organization called the Muktadir group.
“The Muktadir family has been engaged in piracy, gunrunning and human trafficking in waters off the southern Philippines for generations and in recent years effectively served as subcontractors for the Abu Sayyaf group,” Mr. Singer said, referring to a notorious militant organization in the region.
The Muktadir group has the fastest speedboats in the area and often commits abductions and then hands over the victims to the Abu Sayyaf, which handles ransom negotiations, Mr. Singer said. Several members of the group are wanted under arrest warrants for kidnapping in the Philippines and Malaysia.
In September, the Abu Sayyaf abducted two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipino from a resort in the southern Philippines. The group has released videos demanding ransom in return for their release.
In the past year, the group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror organization, but the Philippine military has said the group did not receive direct support from the Islamic State and operated more as a criminal gang than as ideologically driven rebels.
The Philippine government signed a preliminary peace deal in 2012 with the country’s largest Muslim insurgency group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but the deal did not include the Abu Sayyaf and other smaller groups opposed to the agreement.
The peace deal was structured to increase investment and to channel tax revenue to the southern Philippines in order to reduce poverty, which government officials say helps rebel groups recruit fighters.
The peace deal, which President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines has said is one of his top priorities, has stalled in the country’s legislature and is not expected to be passed before Mr. Aquino leaves office at the end of June.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has said the failure of lawmakers to approve the deal could lead to more violence in the southern Philippines.
MANILA — Four sailors from Malaysia were kidnapped off a cargo ship passing close to the southern Philippines on Friday night, less than a week after 10 sailors from Indonesia were abducted nearby, according to police officials from the three countries.
The seizure of the men on Friday was the latest in a series of kidnappings in the lawless waters and coastlines of the southern Philippines in the past year.
More than 18 foreign citizens are being held in the southern Philippines by kidnap-for-ransom groups pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, the Philippine military said.
On Friday, eight armed men in a speedboat stopped a Malaysian cargo ship, the Masfive 6, about 6:15 p.m. near Ligitan, a small island off the eastern coast of the Malaysian state of Sabah, the state police commissioner, Datuk Abdul Rashid Harun, told the Malaysian government-run news agency, Bernama.
The vessel was empty after unloading a shipment of timber in Manila and was released by the armed men along with five crew members fromIndonesia and Myanmar, the Malaysian police said.
All four of the abducted sailors are from the Malaysian state of Sarawak on Borneo, the police said.
A spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, Charles Jose, said Sunday that the Philippines was in the process of verifying the abduction.
Also on Sunday, Col. Restituto Padilla Jr., a spokesman for the armed forces of the Philippines, said the military was working with Malaysian officials to investigate.
On March 26, armed men in a speedboat kidnapped 10 Indonesian sailors from a tugboat near the same area of the southwestern Philippines. The Indonesian police said later that the kidnappers had contacted the Indonesian owner of the vessel and had made ransom demands.
Marc Singer, a director with Pacific Strategies & Assessments, a risk mitigation firm that tracks insurgent groups in the Philippines, said both recent abductions were probably the work of a criminal organization called the Muktadir group.
“The Muktadir family has been engaged in piracy, gunrunning and human trafficking in waters off the southern Philippines for generations and in recent years effectively served as subcontractors for the Abu Sayyaf group,” Mr. Singer said, referring to a notorious militant organization in the region.
The Muktadir group has the fastest speedboats in the area and often commits abductions and then hands over the victims to the Abu Sayyaf, which handles ransom negotiations, Mr. Singer said. Several members of the group are wanted under arrest warrants for kidnapping in the Philippines and Malaysia.
In September, the Abu Sayyaf abducted two Canadians, a Norwegian and a Filipino from a resort in the southern Philippines. The group has released videos demanding ransom in return for their release.
In the past year, the group has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror organization, but the Philippine military has said the group did not receive direct support from the Islamic State and operated more as a criminal gang than as ideologically driven rebels.
The Philippine government signed a preliminary peace deal in 2012 with the country’s largest Muslim insurgency group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but the deal did not include the Abu Sayyaf and other smaller groups opposed to the agreement.
The peace deal was structured to increase investment and to channel tax revenue to the southern Philippines in order to reduce poverty, which government officials say helps rebel groups recruit fighters.
The peace deal, which President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines has said is one of his top priorities, has stalled in the country’s legislature and is not expected to be passed before Mr. Aquino leaves office at the end of June.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has said the failure of lawmakers to approve the deal could lead to more violence in the southern Philippines.