Navy foils Abus' hijack attempt on foreign vessel

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Abu Sayyaf militants attempted to hijack a foreign registered vessel but was thwarted by the patrolling naval gunboat on the border of Sulu Sea.

The MV Dong Hae Star, a Panamanian flagship, was passing Wednesday morning the Sulu Sea from China to Indonesia when it spotted two black speedboatswith five individuals aboard each seacraft pursuing them near Pearl Bank off Taganak Island, Tawi-Tawi.

Capt. Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesperson of Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), said the crew of MV Dong Hae Star immediately dispatched a distress call to the Littoral Monitoring Station of Philippine Navy in Bongao.

Petinglay said patrol boats of the Naval Forces Western Mindanao patrolling the area immediately responded and launched a pursuit.

The MV Dong Hae Star reported that the suspicious speedboats quickly disengaged from chasing the vessel after sighting the responding navy ships, the official said.

The naval patrol ships later continued to provide security by monitoring the passing foreign vessel moving farther from the border of Tawi-Tawi.

The attempted hijacking occurred barely four days afer the Abu Sayyaf group intercepted a Vietnamese vessel, abducting seven crewmembers and killing another last Sunday in the vicinity of Pearl Bank.

Rear Admiral Rene Medina, NFWM chief, had deployed additional naval ships to augment forces under the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi for its law enforcement operations.

The navy increased the security on the border following the spate of cross-border operations of the Abu Sayyaf group targeting foreign vessels transiting the waters Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.