The Navy has acquired a new fleet of small, lightweight, powerful speedboats to pursue pirates operating in the Malacca Strait between Sumatra, Malaysia and Singapore. Deputy Navy Commander Admiral Fred C. Lonan yesterday said the speedboats will be more effective than big, cumbersome warships. In most cases the pirates use swift speedboats that easily elude the Navy's ex-World War II ships.
Pirates usually target oil tankers in the Malacca Strait because they have few crew members.
The pirates generally approach a tanker at dusk, throw long ropes with hooks onto the deck, swiftly climb aboard and then find the crew. Equipped with firearms, the pirates usually encounter little resistance from crews. They quickly remove all portable valuable articles from the tanker, especially hard currencies, and then flee back to their boat. A single operation can take as little as 15 minutes. Lonan said an increasing number of international complaints about the rampant piracy in Indonesian waters have prompted the Navy to increase its patrols in waters most susceptible to crime.