South China Sea Pirates: Off Malaysia Tanker Hijacked, Recaptured, Pirates Arrested

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Reported at SeaShip News here

The Sun Birdie ... went missing on Wednesday. The owner lost communication with the vessel on Wednesday. The last known position was at Lat 01°19.39'N , Long 104°12.35'E, a nautical mile south of Tanjung Ayam in Malaysia. Relevant authorities were deployed to track down the ship which was carrying 700 tons of marine fuel oil and had a crew of 11.
Late last night Malaysian authorities successfully recovered the Sun Birdie 17.63 nm northeast of Tanjung Penawar in Malaysia.
Authorities detained the ship’s crew and seven perpetrators found onboard Sun Birdie. The vessel was brought back to Penggerang for further investigation. Another two perpetrators jumped overboard and fled. They were picked up by a passing ship, Challenger Premier at approximately 12.73 nm east of Tanjung Penawar.

Portions of the Incident Update report from the RECAAP Information Sharing Center:

On 29 Jan 15 at or about 2253 hrs, the MMEA successfully recovered Sun Birdie at approximately 17.63 nm northeast of Tanjung Penawar, Malaysia (01° 42.03’N, 104° 30.46’ E). The MMEA detained the ship’s crew and seven perpetrators found onboard Sun Birdie. The MMEA brought the vessel to Penggerang for further
investigation. Another two perpetrators jumped overboard and fled. They were picked up by a passing ship, Challenger Premier at approximately 12.73 nm east of Tanjung Penawar (01° 30.2’ N, 104° 29.5’ E), and would be handed over to the MMEA. The
CSO of the shipping company of Challenger Premier reported the rescue of the two persons to the IFC.

You might find this ReCAAP report on Special Report on Incidents of Siphoning of Fuel/Oil at Sea in Asia (Part II) interesting. Part I can be found here, with this note:

Pirates/robbers appeared to have knowledge of the amount and types of fuel/oil carried onboard the tankers and the route taken by the tankers

Well, yeah.