TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS
On the ocean border shared by Thailand and Cambodia the Thai Navy is hunting a deadly enemy
This is the anti-piracy patrol armed as if for war with the task of stopping and searching suspicious vessels.
Without the navy as sheriff and enforcer here this is a wild and lawless sea.
As night falls a fishing boat is ordered to prepare for boarding.
The navy is prepared for anything. Off the coast of Cambodia, even small vessels like this have been known to be heavily armed.
But this time they dont find pirates they find one of their victims.
Pun Suksawat lost everything to pirates unarmed on the open seas fishermen like him are easy prey for modern day brigands.
Over the last ten years the Thai Navy has proven that its prepared to shoot back.
Shots across the bow were not enough to stop this hijacked fishing boat.
In this rare footage taken by a Thai sailor the Navy relentlessly pursued the pirates into the night zero-tolerance till the end.
Two of the pirates were shot dead miraculously the rest of the pirate crew survived.
Many victims of pirates have not been so lucky.
(17.05) There has never been anything romantic about pirates and there is nothing romantic about pirates today. They are ruthless criminals who have killed innocent sailors on board these ships.(17.17)
Working from these headquarters in London, the International Maritime Bureau is fighting an explosion of violent crime at sea.
One has to be careful there generally around Indonesia is where the problems arise
Not since the 18th century has piracy been as rampant as it is today in just ten years there has been almost a FIVE-FOLD increase with 469 ships attacked last year
Unveiling big gun on pirate ship
most of them in South East Asia where economic crisis and political instability have fuelled a culture of criminal impunity.
Indonesia is one of the countries which features heavily and for the same reasons. The problems of law and order in Indonesia which cause these attacks to take place.
Across South East Asia piracy has been the scourge of the regions maritime trade.
Increasingly, huge cargo ships are targeted, even oil tankers. Their multi-million dollar cargos seized by highly organised international syndicated.
Thats just what happened to the oil tanker Siam Xan Xai.
On a dark night 18 months ago, 12 Indonesian pirates crept up and boarded the tanker from the back.
Undetected they made their way to the bridge easily capturing the unsuspecting crew.
A: Yeah at night time the pirates, first come to the astern here.
Q: Thats where they climbed over
A: Yeah, yeah
Q: and they had guns and knives?
A: Yeah, everybody have a gun and had knives and I saw the leader and they got the gun (13.10.01)
Two days later Captain Chartchai and ten of his men were put in a small boat fears of piracy meant their pleas for help were ignored by two passing ships.
Remarkably the Captain and his crew made it to Sarawak except one engineer kept as a hostage to assist unloading the oil cargo in China.
I kept in mind that I could die at any time. (14.39) I had to please them, make them happy so that they would keep me alive (14.47)
By chance, Chinese authorities noticed the ships name had been changed and arrested the pirates they may yet be punished, but more often than not, pirates can easily discharge their cargo and buy their way out of trouble.
unless there are particular reasons for the port authorities to be interested in this vessel there is no reason why the vessel should be detected as having a false identity.
Just one week before docking here the Inabukwa had been overrun by pirates.
It was about 8 oclock in the evening on the 15th of March this year that this 12 hundred tonnes vessel was hijacked at sea by armed pirates near Indonesia. Its 22 crew members were left abandoned on a deserted island but then just 48 hours later the ship had a new captain and a new name.
A crude paintjob had transformed the Inabukwa into the pirated Chungsin but the freighters true identity remained brazenly visible.
A panicked attempt to leave the port was foiled by the Philippines coastguard which impounded the vessel and detained its camera-shy crew under suspicion of piracy.
Lt. Cmdr. Felipe MacababadPhilippines Coastguard8.28 9.10??
When we interview them they told us they were hired to bring the ship to the Philippines
Q: So according to them they are not pirates?A: YesQ: Do you believe them?
A: No we dont believe in them
In the ships hold is the booty the lure for todays pirates.
Down here a pillaged fortune four million dollars worth of white pepper and gleaming tin.
24.25 Those are the tin ingots, I dont know how much its cost and those are the white pepper , those bags. Q: Its a lot of stuff A: Yes
The ease with which the Inabukwa was taken has fired the fears of merchant seamen right across this region.
And for good reason whether lost to pirates or maritime fraud, plundered cargoes now cost world commerce 32 billion dollars a year.
At Port Klang south of Kuala Lumpur the four and a half thousand tonne cargo ship, Celestina is preparing for a night in the Malacca Straits the narrow passage linking two halves of the globe.
For centuries pirates have preyed on ships braving this ancient trade route today its the most perilous waterway in the world.
In 1999 there were just two attacks in the Malacca Strait last year there were seventy five.
The Celestinas Philippino Captain admits hes anxious even scared.
During the day I have to take enough rest and sleep so that in the evening Ill be awake all the time
Q: So that youre ready?
A: Yes thats right
Before embarking the crew runs through its compulsory drill for dealing with a pirate attack.
ALARM NATSOT
GRABS SYNC
Modern day pirates may be armed to the teeth but modern day merchant ships are armed only with fire hoses.
Hose stuff up
So its very easy for them to come aboard and take over and we dont have anything to defend ourselves except the hoses to prevent them from coming but if they have guns there is no way to stop them.
Unless you have an equivalent force at least on board able to deter them from the use of arms there is no point carrying arms on board. And as one shipping observer has mentioned, to put an AK-47 in the arms of a merchant seaman who is not trained to use it, is a very dangerous option.
With seafarers unarmed maritime authorities are the only line of defence Malaysias Marine Police are relatively well-equipped compared to their Indonesian counterparts on the other side of the Malacca Strait.
They are eager to display one of their twenty patrol-boats and air wing support but the marine police only captured two groups of pirates last year.
On this day they make a catch of a different kind
Suspicions are raised during a routine check on a boat attempting to cross from Indonesia.
Sound up beefy coast guard speaking to boat in Indonesian
29.46 Weve got to come in straight bring them over this side
The nervous crew half-heartedly uncovers a harmless cargo of dried noodles.
Lifting knife from back
Shouting sound-up (33.43) Open up!!!!!
The marine police persist and nailed beneath boards not noodles but tightly packed people set free into custody.
0.34 0.47 How many are there? Four Five They come from Indonesia
Just as Indonesia cannot stem the flow of human cargo whether illegal immigrants to Malaysia or asylum seekers into Australia nor can it control the pirates haunting its shores.
One quarter of all attacks world wide now occur in Indonesian waters.
But even if pirates are caught theres no certainty they can be prosecuted.
Almost half the worlds shipping freight passes through Asian waters but not a single South-East Asian nation has signed the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Convention which allows prosecution for crimes committed in other countries waters.
In Asia only India, China and Japan and Australia have ratified the convention.(cut to 13.53) And we think there is a great need for governments to look at their laws to ratify this convention or if not to bring in to their own laws, measures which can deal with the internationality of this crime otherwise all the efforts of looking for a ship, seizing it, bringing it into port will be futile if the law enforcement agencies cannot prosecute. (14.20)
For now at least, tracking another international crime terrorism is consuming the worlds focus.
While terror from the skies triggers talk of a new war the ancient and escalating crime of piracy is still unleashing its terrors on the seas.
.ENDS
Credits:
Reporter Geoff Thompson
Camera: David Leland
Editors: Davis Leland
Simon Brynjolffssen
Research: Sompom Panyastianpong
On the ocean border shared by Thailand and Cambodia the Thai Navy is hunting a deadly enemy
This is the anti-piracy patrol armed as if for war with the task of stopping and searching suspicious vessels.
Without the navy as sheriff and enforcer here this is a wild and lawless sea.
As night falls a fishing boat is ordered to prepare for boarding.
The navy is prepared for anything. Off the coast of Cambodia, even small vessels like this have been known to be heavily armed.
But this time they dont find pirates they find one of their victims.
Pun Suksawat lost everything to pirates unarmed on the open seas fishermen like him are easy prey for modern day brigands.
Over the last ten years the Thai Navy has proven that its prepared to shoot back.
Shots across the bow were not enough to stop this hijacked fishing boat.
In this rare footage taken by a Thai sailor the Navy relentlessly pursued the pirates into the night zero-tolerance till the end.
Two of the pirates were shot dead miraculously the rest of the pirate crew survived.
Many victims of pirates have not been so lucky.
(17.05) There has never been anything romantic about pirates and there is nothing romantic about pirates today. They are ruthless criminals who have killed innocent sailors on board these ships.(17.17)
Working from these headquarters in London, the International Maritime Bureau is fighting an explosion of violent crime at sea.
One has to be careful there generally around Indonesia is where the problems arise
Not since the 18th century has piracy been as rampant as it is today in just ten years there has been almost a FIVE-FOLD increase with 469 ships attacked last year
Unveiling big gun on pirate ship
most of them in South East Asia where economic crisis and political instability have fuelled a culture of criminal impunity.
Indonesia is one of the countries which features heavily and for the same reasons. The problems of law and order in Indonesia which cause these attacks to take place.
Across South East Asia piracy has been the scourge of the regions maritime trade.
Increasingly, huge cargo ships are targeted, even oil tankers. Their multi-million dollar cargos seized by highly organised international syndicated.
Thats just what happened to the oil tanker Siam Xan Xai.
On a dark night 18 months ago, 12 Indonesian pirates crept up and boarded the tanker from the back.
Undetected they made their way to the bridge easily capturing the unsuspecting crew.
A: Yeah at night time the pirates, first come to the astern here.
Q: Thats where they climbed over
A: Yeah, yeah
Q: and they had guns and knives?
A: Yeah, everybody have a gun and had knives and I saw the leader and they got the gun (13.10.01)
Two days later Captain Chartchai and ten of his men were put in a small boat fears of piracy meant their pleas for help were ignored by two passing ships.
Remarkably the Captain and his crew made it to Sarawak except one engineer kept as a hostage to assist unloading the oil cargo in China.
I kept in mind that I could die at any time. (14.39) I had to please them, make them happy so that they would keep me alive (14.47)
By chance, Chinese authorities noticed the ships name had been changed and arrested the pirates they may yet be punished, but more often than not, pirates can easily discharge their cargo and buy their way out of trouble.
unless there are particular reasons for the port authorities to be interested in this vessel there is no reason why the vessel should be detected as having a false identity.
Just one week before docking here the Inabukwa had been overrun by pirates.
It was about 8 oclock in the evening on the 15th of March this year that this 12 hundred tonnes vessel was hijacked at sea by armed pirates near Indonesia. Its 22 crew members were left abandoned on a deserted island but then just 48 hours later the ship had a new captain and a new name.
A crude paintjob had transformed the Inabukwa into the pirated Chungsin but the freighters true identity remained brazenly visible.
A panicked attempt to leave the port was foiled by the Philippines coastguard which impounded the vessel and detained its camera-shy crew under suspicion of piracy.
Lt. Cmdr. Felipe MacababadPhilippines Coastguard8.28 9.10??
When we interview them they told us they were hired to bring the ship to the Philippines
Q: So according to them they are not pirates?A: YesQ: Do you believe them?
A: No we dont believe in them
In the ships hold is the booty the lure for todays pirates.
Down here a pillaged fortune four million dollars worth of white pepper and gleaming tin.
24.25 Those are the tin ingots, I dont know how much its cost and those are the white pepper , those bags. Q: Its a lot of stuff A: Yes
The ease with which the Inabukwa was taken has fired the fears of merchant seamen right across this region.
And for good reason whether lost to pirates or maritime fraud, plundered cargoes now cost world commerce 32 billion dollars a year.
At Port Klang south of Kuala Lumpur the four and a half thousand tonne cargo ship, Celestina is preparing for a night in the Malacca Straits the narrow passage linking two halves of the globe.
For centuries pirates have preyed on ships braving this ancient trade route today its the most perilous waterway in the world.
In 1999 there were just two attacks in the Malacca Strait last year there were seventy five.
The Celestinas Philippino Captain admits hes anxious even scared.
During the day I have to take enough rest and sleep so that in the evening Ill be awake all the time
Q: So that youre ready?
A: Yes thats right
Before embarking the crew runs through its compulsory drill for dealing with a pirate attack.
ALARM NATSOT
GRABS SYNC
Modern day pirates may be armed to the teeth but modern day merchant ships are armed only with fire hoses.
Hose stuff up
So its very easy for them to come aboard and take over and we dont have anything to defend ourselves except the hoses to prevent them from coming but if they have guns there is no way to stop them.
Unless you have an equivalent force at least on board able to deter them from the use of arms there is no point carrying arms on board. And as one shipping observer has mentioned, to put an AK-47 in the arms of a merchant seaman who is not trained to use it, is a very dangerous option.
With seafarers unarmed maritime authorities are the only line of defence Malaysias Marine Police are relatively well-equipped compared to their Indonesian counterparts on the other side of the Malacca Strait.
They are eager to display one of their twenty patrol-boats and air wing support but the marine police only captured two groups of pirates last year.
On this day they make a catch of a different kind
Suspicions are raised during a routine check on a boat attempting to cross from Indonesia.
Sound up beefy coast guard speaking to boat in Indonesian
29.46 Weve got to come in straight bring them over this side
The nervous crew half-heartedly uncovers a harmless cargo of dried noodles.
Lifting knife from back
Shouting sound-up (33.43) Open up!!!!!
The marine police persist and nailed beneath boards not noodles but tightly packed people set free into custody.
0.34 0.47 How many are there? Four Five They come from Indonesia
Just as Indonesia cannot stem the flow of human cargo whether illegal immigrants to Malaysia or asylum seekers into Australia nor can it control the pirates haunting its shores.
One quarter of all attacks world wide now occur in Indonesian waters.
But even if pirates are caught theres no certainty they can be prosecuted.
Almost half the worlds shipping freight passes through Asian waters but not a single South-East Asian nation has signed the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Convention which allows prosecution for crimes committed in other countries waters.
In Asia only India, China and Japan and Australia have ratified the convention.(cut to 13.53) And we think there is a great need for governments to look at their laws to ratify this convention or if not to bring in to their own laws, measures which can deal with the internationality of this crime otherwise all the efforts of looking for a ship, seizing it, bringing it into port will be futile if the law enforcement agencies cannot prosecute. (14.20)
For now at least, tracking another international crime terrorism is consuming the worlds focus.
While terror from the skies triggers talk of a new war the ancient and escalating crime of piracy is still unleashing its terrors on the seas.
.ENDS
Credits:
Reporter Geoff Thompson
Camera: David Leland
Editors: Davis Leland
Simon Brynjolffssen
Research: Sompom Panyastianpong