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ndonesian authorities have rescued a tugboat with nine crew members believed to have been hijacked in Singapore Strait, a sea lane seeing a rise in attacks, an official said on Monday.

The rescue operation took place only a few days after an Indonesian minister boasted that security in the Strait of Malacca had increased.

The tugboat was recovered on Saturday off Indonesia, said Noel Choong, head of the piracy reporting center of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), the The Straits Times reported.

It had been towing a barge laden with heavy machinery and piling equipment that an Indonesian aircraft and three warships found in the same area a day later, he added.

The tugboat and barge, heading from the Malaysian peninsular to Borneo island, last made contact on Dec. 27, 2011, off southern Malaysia near the Singapore Strait before it was hijacked, Choong said.

“IMB is very pleased with the Indonesian authorities’ quick response because of which we managed to recover the tugboat and barge,” he said as reported by The Straits Times.

Choong urged the authorities to step up patrols and warned ships to be vigilant in the Singapore Strait, which saw 11 attacks last year, up from three in 2010.

Malaysian maritime authorities in October rescued a tanker they said had also been hijacked in the strait, which is located between Singapore and Indonesia.

In September, a Malaysian court sentenced six Indonesians to 10 years in jail and caning for trying to rob a merchant ship near the same area.

The nearby Strait of Malacca — located between Indonesia and Malaysia and once the most hazardous shipping channel — has seen a lull in attacks in recent years following cooperation between the surrounding countries to rein in piracy.

Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia increased patrols two years ago amid concerns that pirates planned to attack oil tankers.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said on Friday that the incidence of piracy had dropped sharply in the Strait of Malacca following increased sea security exercises including in the area.

“We have kept increasing sea security, including in the Strait of Malacca. Even on Nusantara Day, a joint exercise was held involving special forces of the Indonesia Military [TNI] including in the Strait of Malacca and therefore piracy has dropped sharply,” he said at a year-end press conference.

He said the TNI also continued increasing its capabilities to deal with various kinds of crimes on the sea, such as piracy in Somalia.

“We continue conducting exercises. And so if a similar incident happens, we are ready to deal with it,” he said.

To secure the Strait of Malacca, the minister said Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand had cooperated in conducting sea and air patrols.

As a result of the cooperation since 2005, crime in the 900-kilometer-long sea passage has continued to drop drastically.

Based on International Maritime Bureau’s records, the number of piracy cases in the Strait of Malacca dropped from 38 in 2004 to zero in 2011.

Meanwhile, according to Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) data, the rate of piracy in the Strait of Malacca dropped from 35 in 2005 to zero in 2011.

According to the Indonesian Navy, only one case occurred in 2011 compared to 34 in 2004.