REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesian warship KRI Untung Suropati-372 has foiled a pirate group's attempt to hijack a Singaporean cargo vessel MV Hai Soon 12 in the Tanjung Puting waters of South Kalimantan on Monday, a navy spokesman stated.

"The nine pirates who hijacked the Singaporean-flagged vessel have been detained," Indonesian Navy Spokesman Commodore Edi Sucipto noted in a press statement made available to Antara here, Tuesday.

The Indonesian navy dispatched its KRI Untung Suropati-372 warship to chase the hijacked ship after receiving a tip-off from the Indonesian Maritime Security Board on the crime, he remarked, adding that the vessel, carrying 200 kiloliters of oil, was hijacked while sailing from Singapore to Riau Province's port city of Dumai.

Sucipto revealed that the pirates were all Indonesian citizens hailing from five different areas: Buton, Bugis, Tanjung Uban, Wakatobi, and Aceh. They have been identified as Mustofa, Alimudin, Ali, Anur, Yanto, Andika, Moh Nurhadi, Niko, and Agus.

The Indonesian navy personnel received data from the hijacked ship's Automatic Identification System due to which they were able to locate the ill-fated vessel in the waters of Tanjung Puting, though the pirates had changed its name to KM AISO, he stated.

The pirates confessed that they had planned to transfer the hijacked ship's cargo to a Malaysian vessel, MT Marine Gas Oil, but their attempt was foiled. All the suspects have been brought to the East Java city of Surabaya for further investigation, he said.

The navy is conducting regular patrols to secure Indonesia's maritime territory, he added.

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