Pirate Raid Foiled As Sailor ‘Hijacks’ The Pirates Boat

The oil tanker’s crew members rejoicing with Mohamed who managed to free himself from the clutches of a pirate off the coast of Langkawi yesterday.A gang of heavily armed pirates, believed to be from Aceh, hijacked a Malaysian tanker off Langkawi here yesterday. They surrendered after a 12-hour drama on the high seas. Their downfall was brought about by a brave 28-year-old Sailor who dived into the sea, stole the pirates’ speedboat and returned with five police patrol boats, including a PZ15 gunboat. The drama began at 4am yesterday when 10 pirates, armed with sub-machine guns and parangs, boarded the MT Nepline Delima north of here and seven nautical miles from Thai waters while most of the crew members were asleep. The brave Seaman, Mohamad Hamid, hid while his colleagues were rounded up. He was nearly caught but managed to dive from the deck to the sea near the pirates’ boat. With the speedboat, Mohamad ended up just 500m from the police marine base here at 9am and raised the alarm. The marine police started a seach about 11am and caught up with the tanker 23 nautical miles from Langkawi at 12.30pm. The pirates threatened to blow up the tanker. The PZ15 gunboat commander negotiated with them. After more than three hours the pirates were persuaded to surrender peacefully at 3.40pm. Marine police personnel checking the pirates for identification and weapons after their surrender aboard the MT Nepline Delima off Langkawi