Pirates have released an Indonesia-bound Thai tanker after stealing its oil cargo and destroying its communication equipment, the Piracy Reporting Center (PRC) of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said on June 2.

The MT Orapin 4, which lost contact after leaving Singapore on May 27 en route to Pontianak port in Indonesia’s Kalimantan city, with 14 crew aboard arrived at Sri Racha Port in Thailand on June 1.

Pirates have attacked a number of vessels in waters off Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia recently.

In April, they injured the captain and stole diesel fuel from another Thailand-owned tanker off the eastern coast of Malaysia.

January to March saw 23 actual or attempted attacks in Southeast Asian waters, mainly off Indonesia, according to the IMB.-VNA