PUTRAJAYA, June 15 — The tanker that went missing four days ago with a Petronas cargo of RON95 petrol valued at RM21 million is likely a case of piracy, Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) deputy director-general said today.

However, Vice-Admiral Maritime Datuk Ahmad Puzi Ab Kahar added that no ransom demands have been made yet for the ship’s 22 crew, 16 who are Malaysians, five Indonesians and one Myanmar national.

“If we want to say they are hostages, they must have somebody asking for ransom… As of 3.30pm, no one contacted asking for ransom,” he told the media here.

While past maritime robberies have seen fuel cargo such as diesel being siphoned off to other ships, the 5,879 metric tonnes of RON95 petrol carried by the missing tanker would be harder to transfer, he said.

With the high risk posed by the flammability of petrol compared to diesel, Ahmad Puzi said special arrangements were needed for its safe transfer from the ship.

The nearest places with such facilities included Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei, he added.

But since Malaysia had alerted all neighbouring Asean countries of the missing tanker, it would be “difficult” for robbers to legitimately sell and unload the RON95 petrol to buyers with the capability to receive the stolen cargo, he said.

The tanker MT Orkim Harmony had departed from Malacca and was bound for the Kuantan port when communication was lost last Thursday at 8.50pm.

Ahmad Puzi said today that MMEA was notified about 10 hours later at 6.30am the next day, where it immediately commenced the search for the ship.

The vessel’s last-known location was 30 nautical miles off the east coast of Johor’s Tanjung Sedili.

Ahmad Puzi suggested that pirates had changed their strategy and “modus operandi” to the South China Sea after Malaysian authorities secured the Straits of Malacca.

The narrow channel between Malaysia’s west coast and Sumatra was once a hotbed of piracy; it recorded 38 cases in 2004 but had zero cases for some years post-2007.

To date, Malaysia has brought 40 pirates to court, with penalties of between 10 to 15 years’ jail for these individuals that are largely attached to syndicates from neighbouring countries, Ahmad Puzi said.

He pointed out that the South China Sea was harder to police as its vast waters are also the responsibility of neighbouring countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, with the waters even stretching to Japan.

The Orkim Harmony’s June 11 disappearance takes place a week after another tanker from the same Malaysian company – Orkim Victory – was hijacked and had some of its fuel cargo stolen. All 18 crewmembers were reportedly released unharmed the same day together with the ship.

When asked about the possibility of an “inside job” in Orkim Harmony’s case, Ahmad Puzi said the tanker’s company has been asked to help with information regarding the crew.

He also declined to name the suspected nationalities of the alleged robbers, stating only that the “mastermind” could equally be foreigners or locals.