A Thai oil tanker was boarded and robbed in Malaysian waters on Friday by pirates who made of with 2,000 tonnes of bunker oil and five tonnes of diesel oil after laying a bomb on the vessel, Manager Online reported.
Sources said Theekhathat Charoensuk, the captain of the Thai tanker "Lapin", told marine police his vessel, which was transporting a large quantity of oil from Singapore, was robbed in Malaysian waters on Friday at about 7.55pm.
He said six to eight pirates, believed to be Indonesians, stopped the "Lapin" and forced the crew to surrender. Three of the pirates were armed with guns, and the others carried swords.
The pirates brought a larger boat alongside the tanker and siphoned off 2,000 tonnes of bunker oil and five tonnes of diesel oil. Before leaving with the stolen oil, the pirates laid an improvised bomb on the tanker's flying bridge.
The captain brought the tanker into Thai waters and anchored it between Tarutao and Lipe islands off Satun province and contacted the marine police for help.
Pol Col Chainarong Limpitheep, the deputy chief of marine police of Satun, contacted an explosive ordnance disposal unit in Songkhla to send an EOD team to the tanker.
A marine patrol boat was despatched to where the tanker was anchored.