ABSTRACT
Introduction Over the past fifteen years or so, Southeast Asia1 acquired the dubious honor of having the most pirate-infested waters in the world, lost that title to Africa and has once again become the region with the most frequent attacks against vessels. While the majority of attacks in Southeast Asia have consistently been opportunistic petty theft on board vessels and have in no way matched the sheer brazenness and brutality of attacks by Somali pirates, there has been an upswing in attacks of ship hijacking for re-sale or product theft in Southeast Asia. These attacks require a relatively high degree of organization, more manpower and co-ordination and are usually committed by organized crime syndicates.
