Indonesian navy personnel guard suspected pirates. A private security firm employing former members of elite military units has begun providing armed escorts to ships plying some of Asia's most pirate-infested waters(AFP/File/Arif Ariadi)
Posted on 04/07/2005 10:11:27 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
A private security firm employing former members of elite military units has begun providing armed escorts to ships plying some of Asia's most pirate-infested waters, a media report said.
Singapore-based Background Asia Risk Solutions has its own armour-plated vessel that accompanies boats anywhere between Sri Lanka and the South China Sea for about 50,000 US dollars a mission, the Straits Times said.
The company employs 60 former members of crack military units from Singapore and elsewhere, who carry out their escort missions armed with M-16 and M-4 assault rifles, according to the Straits Times.
The paper, quoting managing director Alex Duperouzel, said the firm was set up nine months ago and had already had 12 jobs this year guarding oil rigs and tankers against pirate attacks.
Duperouzel, a former fraud investigator from Australia, said the firm's boat had yet to engage in any combat with pirates, although it had warned off several suspicious vessels by using loud hailers, flares and spotlights.
"When boats see we have well-disciplined, well-equipped teams, they usually move on and leave us alone," he said.
However Duperouzel said his employees would not hesitate to use their artillery if necessary.
"Just like a cop who has to defend his own life, our men will not shoot to kill. It's a series of escalating events," he said.
"If we can take out an engine, we'll do so. We'll also go for the knees. But if we're forced to engage, we'll engage to win."
The narrow 960-kilometre-long (600-mile) Malacca Strait, bordered by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes but is also full of pirates who brazenly carry out attacks.
The Malacca Strait is used by about 50,000 ships a year carrying a third of world trade and half its oil supplies, and the attacks have led to concerns the waterway and adjoining Singapore Strait are also vulnerable to terrorists.
Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia last year began coordinated patrols in the Malacca Strait.
But with a recent increase in attacks, Malaysia has announced it will place armed police officers on board tugboats and barges plying the waterway.
There have been at least five pirate attacks on ships in the straits over the past six weeks.
In the latest incident on Tuesday, pirates aboard seven small fishing boats attempted to board a 150,000-tonne, Japanese-owned crude oil tanker but were foiled when the captain of the vessel took evasive measures and increased speed.
Duperouzel and the co-founder of Background Asia Risk Solutions, Bryan Toki, were overseas drumming up business on Friday and unable to immediately comment when AFP contacted their office.
Do you have a link to the story?
thanks
I'd like to be a pirate.
Making em walk the plank I see.......
You HAVE to be kidding!
What real pirates do, and how they treat and dispose of victims, is far too graphic for posting on any sight that might be read by the young.
Forget Hollywood and Disney romanticizing, think of where the term "Cut-throat" really comes from.
Geeze, youse never seems to got a torp when ya needs one!
I've always felt the ships themselves should have armed people aboard. Armed with laws rockets to sink the pirates, and snipers with fifty cal rifles to take out their boats engines.
a twenty man security squad (with night vision goggles for the night watches) could defend these large ships.
My reference though was to the picture above of Greenpeace's RV Arctic Sunrise.LOL
At $50,000 a pop for the escort, I have to wonder just how much the pirates are collecting in ransom money from the kidnapped crews. As far as I can tell from most stories, they aren't interested in cargoes or equipment, just ransom.
Even "just" a .50 rifle on each bridge wing would give good range & coverage. Serious question: is there a shot type cartridge for the .50 for closer-in work; or is it better to switch to a 3" mag 12ga?
That's piracy!
Provided the crew has the skill and will to use them. If they don't, the ship just has weapons the pirates can pick up.
You are sounding alike a anti worried about the crook taking a ccw holders gun. Will power and seeing the need to use it is more important.
Mark Twain said that when he was a boy he hoped that if he was very good God would let him grow up to be a pirate.
Singapore always felt that Indonesia provided sanctuary for pirates preying on their commerce. See what happens with the joint patrols, see if after a while the pirates don't bribe the Indonesian Navy, who effectively become spotters.
Call me a skeptic, but it's just a matter of who bribes them the most. Bribes by shippers to Indonesian officials will never trickle down to ranks.
I have a friend who has designed a "new" type of ammo for a .50 cal and says it will go through a 1 1/2 " of armor at a mile and a half. If that won't take out a boats motor, gotta mount 20mm cannons on merchant ships.
I'm suggesting augmenting the crew.
It doesn't take much skill to fire a rifle, but it does take skill to fire accurately.
I'm a fervent supporter of the 2nd Ammendment. I just think that knowing how to use a gun is just as important as having one.
It doesn't take much skill just a willingness to learn how. I have taught hundreds of people of people to shoot the ones willing to learn soon pick the skill nessasary to defend oneself.
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