The Indonesian Navy has foiled a hijacking attempt by a group of pirates who took over a tanker with 2,294 tons of cooking oil across the Malacca Strait, local press said Wednesday.
The Navy foiled the piracy attempt Monday after the Kraton tanker, which departed from South Sumatra's capital of Palembang en route to Central Java, was attacked by 14 pirates on Saturday.
The pirates in a small boat approached the tanker and climbed onboard waving pistols, reported English daily The Jakarta Post.
The tanker's captain, Ruskandi, said the pirates took over the tanker which was transporting cooking oil worth around 22 billion rupiah (2.4 million U.S. dollars) and steered it in the direction of Malaysia or Singapore.
All crew members were tied up.
Commander of the Navy's West Fleet Commodore Denny Novendy said six warships were deployed to chase down the tanker.
"The warships intentionally hit the tanker to give the pirates a fright. With only one shot fired by the pirates, the Navy managed to overpower them without causing any casualties," he was quoted as saying.
One of the culprits said he had been assigned to drive the tanker into Malaysian waters.
Source: Xinhua
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