Malaysia and Indonesia will send teams to combat the rising number of attacks on merchant vessels in the region.
First Admiral Maritime Zulkifili bin Abu Bakar, director of maritime matters in the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA)’s crime investigations department told Reuters that they would deploy a helicopter-equipped special task and rescue (STAR) team at Johor Bahru.
He added that Malaysian and Indonesian navies would form a similar rapid reaction force in the area.
Over 70 ships have reportedly been attacked in the Malacca and Singapore straits this year — the highest statistic since 2008 — with seven incident at the end of last week.
Zulkifli was quoted as saying that the MMEA force would respond to robbery and hijacking incidents but team members would also be sent on merchant ships operated by government-linked firms.
“The STAR team is in addition to the other MMEA personnel tasked to combat anti-piracy/sea robbery. I can’t tell you the number of personnel, but (it is) formidable enough to undertake any anti-hijacking operations,” he told Reuters.
