ABSTRACT
Introduction On August 8, 2015, the Singaporean-registered tanker Joaquim was attacked by pirates while underway in the Malacca Strait. The perpetrators climbed on board, and the vessel-tracking device was switched off. Having lost contact with its vessel, the shipping company alerted the Information Fusion Centre hosted by the Republic of Singapore Navy, which shared information about the missing vessel among relevant authorities in Southeast Asia. In response, both the Indonesian and Malaysian authorities reportedly deployed ships and aircraft to search for the vessel. Malaysian authorities located it the following day, and it was discovered that the pirates had siphoned off some of the ship’s cargo of fuel oil. The ship’s crew was still onboard, unharmed, except for two crewmembers who the pirates had punched. This was the third attack on a tanker in the Malacca Strait in which cargo was stolen in 2015 (ReCAAP ISC 2015, 2016).
