T

he Navy is unconcerned about a number of areas in East Kalimantan being deemed vulnerable to piracy and says the number of piracy related incidents in these areas is not significant.

Balikpapan naval base commander Col. Condrowibowo acknowledged that perceptions of insecurity were still attached to the waters off the east coasts of East Kalimantan and North Kalimantan.

'€œBut it'€™s not as bad [as it appears]. There is crime taking place along the coast in East Kalimantan, but only it'€™s only petty crime, such as the theft of mooring ropes or paint supplies,'€ said Condrowibowo.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has recorded a number of piracy incidents along the East Kalimantan coast. The latest incident was a piracy attempt by seven individuals armed with sharp weapons on board the Marshall Island-flag Beatrice freighter at 1:45 a.m. local time on Nov. 16, 2014.

The 31,229-ton vessel was laying anchor in Muara Berau waters when the seven boarded the ship. A crew member immediately sounded the alarm to warn the other crew members, causing the assailants to immediately flee with three large rolls of mooring rope.

'€œThe incident was not immediately reported to us, but to the Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur,'€ said Condrowibowo.

Two months earlier, also in Muara Berau, a piracy incident occurred on a 41,000-ton Panama-registered freighter, Dahlia, at night, with the perpetrators making off with mooring rope.

On July 25, 2014 at 3:15 a.m., three armed pirates reportedly boarded the Sea Dias freighter in Muara Berau, but fled with their loot after a crew member sounded the alarm.

'€œThe targets [in these incidents] were the ships'€™ goods. On land, this would just be petty crime,'€ said Condrowibowo.

He also said that such cases had dropped significantly, from 24 in 2013 to six in 2014.

In 2013, seven cases were recorded in Muara Berau, seven in Muara Jawa, five in Balikpapan Bay, four in Adang Bay and one in Tanjung Santan.

'€œThe Eastern Fleet commander has ordered us to boost patrols,'€ said Condrowibowo, adding the patrols were launched from Indonesian Military (TNI) Navy stations, such as in Muara Pegah, Anggana; Kampung Baru, Balikpapan; and Tana Grogot, overlooking Adang Bay.

Patrols in border areas such as Ambalat and Karang Unarang are also involving naval vessels.

The IMB has designated a number of areas in the archipelago, such as Muara Berau, East Kalimantan; Tanjung Priok waters, Jakarta; as well as the waters off Bintan Island, Karimun Island and Belawan, North Sumatra, as areas of concern, where pirates may be armed with guns, knives, or machetes and attack vessels after nightfall.

The IMB has also called on the crews of vessels in these waters to be extra vigilant, as many attacks may have gone unreported.