INFORMATION FUSION CENTRE

AFPN 6504
103 Tanah Merah Coast Road, #02-01
Singapore 498750
Tel: +65 9626 8965 (Mobile)
+65 6594 5728 (Office)
Fax:
+65 6594 5734
IFC_DO@defence.gov.sg
www.infofusioncentre.gov.sg
15 Apr 15

INFORMATION FUSION CENTRE

MARSEC WEEKLY REPORT
04 - 10 Apr 15

Figure 1: Location of Incidents in IFC Area of Interest

For the period from 04-10 Apr 15, IFC received information as follows:
IUU Fishing

Piracy / Sea Robbery / Sea Theft

Irregular Human Migration

Weapons Trafficking

Maritime Incident

Contraband Trafficking

Natural Event

Maritime Terrorism

Note: 3 Contraband Trafficking Incidents, 3 IUU Fishing, 4 Maritime Incidents, and 1 Piracy/Sea Robbery/Sea
Theft Incident were reported out of the reporting period.

OVERVIEW OF INCIDENTS
Contraband Trafficking
04 Apr Crystal Methamphetamine
and
Ecstasy
Pills
Confiscated/
Riau/Indonesia
Details: The Riau Police Narcotics Unit
had confiscated 46.5 Kg of crystal
methamphetamine and 1,100 ecstasy pills
and arrested five suspects.
Events reported outside of the period:
03
Apr
Rice
Zamboanguita/Philippines

03
Apr
Diesel
/Sattahip/Thailand

Smuggling

Details: Five men were arrested for

smuggling 100,000 litres of oil from
Malaysia after the navy impounded their
boat offshore in Sattahip district.
02 Apr - Rice smugglers Employing
High-speed
Boats
/
Zamboanga/Philippines

Smuggling/

Details: The Philippines Coast Guard,

Navy and the Bureau of Customs have
apprehended a motor launch and its
skipper for smuggling rice from Malaysia
and seven other violations off the waters of
Zamboanguita.

Details: Rice smugglers had adopted a

new strategy of employing high-speed
small boats. This was the disclosure by the
authorities after it had intercepted a
shipment of glutinous rice with an
estimated worth of P1 million using a
small high speed boat locally known as
jungkung

Irregular Human Migration

04 Apr- Foreign Fisherman Rescued/
Benjina/Indonesia

09
Apr
Illegal
Immigrants
Arrested/Kuching/Malaysia

Details: Hundreds of foreign fishermen

without proper documentation were
rescued from an isolated island of Benjina.
Indonesian officials were investigating on
the matter.

Details: The statewide clean up on illegal

immigrants continued with more than 100
foreigners, including women and children,
arrested in Kuching. The arrests were
made under Immigration Act 1959/63. All
the detainees were later sent to Semuja
Detention Camp for further investigation.

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing

05
Apr

Fishermen
Arrested/Trincomalee/Sri Lanka

07 Apr - Trawlers Detained/Pulau

Tenggo/Malaysia

Details: Sri Lankan Navy arrested 8

fishermen for illegal fishing off waters of
Ilankanthai in Trincomalee.

Details: Malaysian Maritime Enforcement

Agency (MMEA) detained two foreign
trawlers for illegal fishing off the waters of
Pulau Tenggo.

Events reported outside of the period:

03 Apr - Fishermen Arrested/ Point
Pedro/Sri Lanka
Details: Sri Lanka Navy arrested 37
fishermen along with 5 fishing trawlers for
illegal fishing off the water north of Point
Pedro, Sri Lanka.

27
Mar

Fishermen
Arrested/Kendrapara/India
Details: 22 fishermen were taken into
custody for unlawful fishing activities in
the waters of Kendrapara.
26 Mar Fishing Boats Detained
/Sipitang/Malaysia
Details: MMEA has detained 10 fishing
boats in the waters of Sipitang, Sabah for
violating fishery regulations.

Maritime Incidents
05 Apr - Bulk Carrier Abandoned After
Collision/Weihai Isle/China

for the island of Phuket.

Events reported outside of the period:

Details: A bulk carrier collided with

another vessel 18 NM southeast of Weihai
Isle. The crew of the abandoned ship was
rescued by passing vessels.
07 Apr - Fishermen Rescued/Khanh
Hoa/Vietnam
Details: 35 fishermen were rescued after
their fishing vessel's engine broke down
off the waters of Khanh Hoa.
05
Apr
Yacht
/Balikpapan/Indonesia

Detained

Details: The Indonesian Navy in

Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, had detained
a yacht that docked in Balikpapan. The
yacht was detained as it did not have
proper documentation.
08 Apr Fire Broke
Ferry/Phuket/Thailand

Out

On

Details: Rescue came in after a fire on a

ferry in southern Thailand. Speedboats
raced to evacuate 117 passengers from the
stricken vessel which started spewing
smoke and flames shortly after it left Krabi

26 Mar - Fishermen
Kemaman/Malaysia

Rescued/

Details: MMEA had rescued 5 fishermen

after their boat broke down and drifted for
five days.
28 Mar - Crew Rescued From Aground
Vessel/ Selangor/Malaysia
Details: MMEA Maritime District Klang
(DM 4) rescued crew of grounding vessel
in the waters of Selangor. Two Malaysian
Maritime patrol boats rushed to the scene
to carry out rescue operations.
01 Apr Sailing
Yacht
Aground/Phuket/Thailand

Ran

Details: A yacht ran aground off Kata

Beach, Phuket due to strong seas.
02 Apr - Bodies Recovered From
Sunken
Vessel
/Tapul
Islands/Philippines
Details: Search and rescue teams
recovered 5 bodies from the passenger ship

which sunk off Sulu.

Piracy/Sea Robbery/Sea Theft
07 Apr - Suspicious Approach/South
China Sea

07 Apr Perpetrators Arrested/Langkai

River/Indonesia

Details: IFC received information from a

shipping company that its Vietnam
Flagged Asphalt/Bitumen Tanker had
encountered an attempted approach by a
suspicious small boat at position 01 33N
104 35 E on 070130H Apr 15.

Details: TNI AL arrested 5 perpetrators

along coast of Langkai River (located
SWW of Batam) on 070730H Apr 15. The
perpetrators were involved in stealing
ship's store from a merchant ship at north
Batam.

Comment: Vessels are encouraged to

report to IFC on any suspicious activities.
Vessels are strongly advised to enhance
vigilance and adapt self-protection
measures.

Events reported outside of the period:

16 Mar - Sea Theft/Visakhapatnam
Anchorage/India
Details: IFC received information that a
sea theft incident had occurred on board a
Marshall
Islands-Flagged
Chemical
Products Tanker at Lat 17 38.30'N, Long
83 25.20'E, Visakhapatnam anchorage,
India.
Comment: Vessels are strongly advised to
enhance vigilance and adapt selfprotection measure.

Recommendations
IFC Advises:
1. All mariners to report any incidents timely to the nearest coastal state and IFC at the
earliest possible time.
2. Ships moving at slow speed or choosing to remain at anchor in areas where sea
robbery/theft is regularly reported to be vigilant and to adopt necessary security measures.
3. All mariners to take note on the description of the perpetrators and to take photos of the
perpetrators if possible.
4. Shippers and Seafarers operating in Sulu Sea and in vicinity of East Sabah Waters are
strongly recommended to be vigilant and to establish contact with both Malaysian and
Philippines Authorities to report their presence.
5. Shippers are advised to take note that al-Qaeda, in its recently launched English language
online magazine Resurgence, has called for the disruption of global trade and shipping
through acts of piracy, among other tactics. Shippers are therefore advised to exercise

IFC RELEASABLE TO MARITIME INDUSTRY

vigilance and to adopt self-defensive measures as stated in BMP4, especially when

transiting narrow choke points and known sea robbery/piracy hot spots.
Note: Information herein was derived from various internal and external sources
such as Focal Points, OPCENs and other maritime stakeholders. Shippers should
remain vigilant especially in areas where the threat level is assessed to be above one
in accordance with the IFC Spot Commentary 2/14 and IFC quarterly assessment
report. Ships should apply the appropriate security measures (such as BMP4 or
Tugs and Barge Guide). Ship masters should also be aware and refer to the
Maritime Security Charts Q6112 and Q6113, both published by the UK
Hydrographic Office.
CONTACT
In case of any doubt, incident at sea, suspicious approach or unusual observed activity at sea,
please contact IFC: IFC Duty Officer:
Email :
IFC_DO@defence.gov.sg or ifc_do@infofusioncentre.gov.sg
Tel :
+65 9626 8965 (Mobile)
+65 6594 5728 (Office)
Fax :
+65 6594 5734
The IFC seeks your observations in the course of your normal business. The IFC would like
to remind mariners to be mindful of national and international laws, company and other
policy requirements and also health and safety obligations, whilst recording these
observations. The reporting of such events to IFC does not absolve you of your obligations
towards coastal/ port/ flag authorities.

5
IFC RELEASABLE TO MARITIME INDUSTRY