IFC: Three ships robbed In Singapore Strait

Asia records 57 piracy incidents in eight months 

 

Three ships have been robbed in the Singapore Strait, according to Information Fusion Centre (IFC).

IFC is a regional maritime security centre hosted by the Republic of Singapore Navy. It is situated at the Changi Command and Control Centre.

The Singapore Strait, which is one of the busiest commercial waterways in the world, has seen a spike in piracy in recent years.

IFC said the incidents happened between Tuesday and Wednesday last week when the ships were in the Phillip Channel in the Singapore Strait.

One of the ships was flagged to Cyprus, while the other two carried Liberia flags, the centre said in a statement.

Fifty such incidents have been recorded spanning from India to Indonesia and South Korea since January 23, the centre said, urging vessels in the vicinity to exercise caution.

“Majority of the incidents involved bulk carriers, and tugs and barges with low freeboard and slow speed while underway, and the incidents occurred in hours of darkness,” it said.

The centre said all the robberies were likely carried out by the same group of perpetrators based on proximity, time intervals, and the number of people in

volved.



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