The marina at Ca Mau province’s Song Doc town. Ca Mau fishermen are often threatened by pirates in and around Cambodian waters Pirates of the Ca Mau cape
Monday, February 18, 2008
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)
The story of southern fishermen held captive and their families’ ordeal to get them back.
The phone woke fishing boat owner Tu Nguyen at midnight last November.
On the other line, her son Dam Quoc Sinh’s voice quivered: “Mom, we’ve been taken hostage by Cambodians. They want US$20,000.” Then the line went dead.
“Don’t bother calling them back,” said Tu’s husband.
“They’ll call us in a few days. We’d better get the money ready.”
Fishing families in Ca Mau, Vietnam’s southernmost province, are more than familiar with Cambodian pirates. They know the drill.
The next morning, the couple heard the news in town.
Their fishing village of Song Doc was abuzz: three boats, including one that Tu owned, had been captured with 59 Vietnamese fishermen off the coast of Cambodia.
The other two boats belong to Diep Hong Tien and Pham Thi Ba, also from Song Doc.
Three days later the three families’ received calls from the captors and ransom negotiations began.
From $20,000, the amount was talked down to $7,500.
After gathering the money, the boat owners followed instructions given to them by the kidnappers via a translator.
Tien said the hostage takers changed the time and means several times.
The instructions finally led Tien and the others to Kien Giang Province, which borders Ca Mau to the south and Cambodia to the northwest.
They heard nothing until midnight.
Tien was then asked to take the three families’ ransoms to the Cambodian border gate alone.
He waited at the gate all day and as the kidnappers continued to change the meeting place several times.
Finally, he crossed the border on xe om (motorbike taxi) at 8 p.m.
His part of the transaction was over five minutes later.
Tien’s son called him the next day.
He and the other hostages had been released and were on their way home.
The kidnapping
Sinh said his boat was catching fish about 10 nautical miles from Tho Chu Island in Vietnamese waters when a grey speedboat rushed toward them with nearly 20 armed men in grey uniforms on board.
The armed men boarded Sinh’s boat and rounded up the fishermen threatening them with AK assault rifles.
They took the boat to Cambodia along with another four boats which had been taken in the same way.
The boats then moored in an area with a lot of small islands, said Sinh.
Sinh said he and two other captains had been escorted to one of the islands to meet “the boss” while the other fishermen were left in the custody of three guards.
The fishermen were forced to help build a boat that the pirates used to store oil and booty, he said.
The pirates made off with between VND40 million ($2,508) and VND50 million ($3,135) in spoils plus the $7,500 ransom.
The kidnappers’ grey uniforms have led some to speculate that the captors may have been in disguise as Cambodian Coast Guards or even that the Cambodian Coast Guard may have participated in the piracy.
Nothing new in Ca Mau
According to rough statistics of the Ca Mau provincial Fisheries Department, 61 local fishing boats have been held for ransom since 1998.
The local administration said it has been unable to solve the problem since most boat owners have preferred to pay the ransom rather than involve the authorities.
Ca Mau’s waters border those of Cambodia.
According to Nguyen Tuan, chairman of Song Doc Town’s People’s Committee, said that in some cases kidnappers had severely beaten fishermen in their custody to threaten boat owners who bargained for too low a price.
The phone woke fishing boat owner Tu Nguyen at midnight last November.
On the other line, her son Dam Quoc Sinh’s voice quivered: “Mom, we’ve been taken hostage by Cambodians. They want US$20,000.” Then the line went dead.
“Don’t bother calling them back,” said Tu’s husband.
“They’ll call us in a few days. We’d better get the money ready.”
Fishing families in Ca Mau, Vietnam’s southernmost province, are more than familiar with Cambodian pirates. They know the drill.
The next morning, the couple heard the news in town.
Their fishing village of Song Doc was abuzz: three boats, including one that Tu owned, had been captured with 59 Vietnamese fishermen off the coast of Cambodia.
The other two boats belong to Diep Hong Tien and Pham Thi Ba, also from Song Doc.
Three days later the three families’ received calls from the captors and ransom negotiations began.
From $20,000, the amount was talked down to $7,500.
After gathering the money, the boat owners followed instructions given to them by the kidnappers via a translator.
Tien said the hostage takers changed the time and means several times.
The instructions finally led Tien and the others to Kien Giang Province, which borders Ca Mau to the south and Cambodia to the northwest.
They heard nothing until midnight.
Tien was then asked to take the three families’ ransoms to the Cambodian border gate alone.
He waited at the gate all day and as the kidnappers continued to change the meeting place several times.
Finally, he crossed the border on xe om (motorbike taxi) at 8 p.m.
His part of the transaction was over five minutes later.
Tien’s son called him the next day.
He and the other hostages had been released and were on their way home.
The kidnapping
Sinh said his boat was catching fish about 10 nautical miles from Tho Chu Island in Vietnamese waters when a grey speedboat rushed toward them with nearly 20 armed men in grey uniforms on board.
The armed men boarded Sinh’s boat and rounded up the fishermen threatening them with AK assault rifles.
They took the boat to Cambodia along with another four boats which had been taken in the same way.
The boats then moored in an area with a lot of small islands, said Sinh.
Sinh said he and two other captains had been escorted to one of the islands to meet “the boss” while the other fishermen were left in the custody of three guards.
The fishermen were forced to help build a boat that the pirates used to store oil and booty, he said.
The pirates made off with between VND40 million ($2,508) and VND50 million ($3,135) in spoils plus the $7,500 ransom.
The kidnappers’ grey uniforms have led some to speculate that the captors may have been in disguise as Cambodian Coast Guards or even that the Cambodian Coast Guard may have participated in the piracy.
Nothing new in Ca Mau
According to rough statistics of the Ca Mau provincial Fisheries Department, 61 local fishing boats have been held for ransom since 1998.
The local administration said it has been unable to solve the problem since most boat owners have preferred to pay the ransom rather than involve the authorities.
Ca Mau’s waters border those of Cambodia.
According to Nguyen Tuan, chairman of Song Doc Town’s People’s Committee, said that in some cases kidnappers had severely beaten fishermen in their custody to threaten boat owners who bargained for too low a price.
9 comments:
Karma?
They're in Cambodia waters ! Respect our border.
A majority of Khmers are good and decent people. They believe in Buddhism which teaches them to be compassionate and kind. But the relation between the Khmers and Vietnamese hasn't been cool. Bad Vietnamese can cause the good Cambodians to become bad and dangerous as well. So be good friends to the Khmers and they'll remember your good deeds and be good to you. That's for sure.
If this were true?just beware for a retaliate,beware khmer fishermen."ANANIKUM AMERICA RULES!"
These guys guard the border in stead of government officials.
It is bit too loose hah!
it does not matter who they kidnapped. it is WRONG. Imagine if they kidnapped your lovely wife and children.
I can't believe what I am reading here because it is a joke! I want to remind all people that Cambodia has only 90 mile of coastline compare to Vietname which has 2000 miles of coastline!
Cambodian 90 miles of coastline are very pristine and restricted in condition and a very few outdated Cambodian fishing boats have the capability to exploit the natural at Cambodian sea and for years the Viet fishermen had been taking advantage of such situation and they were robbing Cambodian natural resource at sea for years with their advance modern fishing boats and trawlers and now they are complaining that they are being kidnapping for ransom! If the Viet fishermen determine to violate and to steal every little natural resource that Cambodia has and they deserve what is coming for them and they have no right to complain! It seems that 2000 miles of Vietcong coastline are not enough for these Viet fishermen and now they want to take on Cambodian coastline?
It is time to stop these Viet fishermen from violating and stealing Cambodian natural resources at sea!
It the piracy comeeteed by Cambodia and Vietnamese official over the poor fishemen!
i don't look at it that way like cambodia has shorter coastline or what have you. i think cambodia is bless to have the ocean with the world regardless of how small or short it is. cambodia is bless with all that god have to offer to a country eg. mountains, mighty lakes and rivers, sea coast with lovely, beautiful beaches and islands. look, if one were to make silly comparison like the 9:55am thread above, then compare vietnam to country like australia, the US, the philipines, indonesia, etc., which have more coastline than the vietnam. so, you can't just make comparison like that. i think cambodia is so bless to have our islands, beaches, etc. although small compared with other countries on this planet. but, we have happy and feel blessed to have one. there's no need to pick on cambodia just because we're smaller in area. it's like comparing singapore to australia or something. it sounds silly and dumb to make comparison like that. at least, cambodia has the southeast asia's largest fresh water lake, the tonle sap; and cambodian people are so proud of our geographical features like having the perhaps the only river system in the whole world that reverses itself annually, and much, much more to cambodia than our short coastline. so what!! cambodia is compact enough to visit; and cambodia is a bless land. god bless cambodia.
To 10:04AM
Thank for blessing Cambodia with its small coastline! If the Vietcong and the Thaicong have their way the Cambodia wouldn't have the small coastline to talk about! And I thank God that Cambodia has some kind of coastline which Cambodian people can use to contact with the outside world! If one study about Cambodian history and the creation of Khmer empire and it is the access to sea that help make the Khmer empire possible and it is so vital to trade with other empire around the world even in the modern world in the 21st century and in the near future Cambodian international trade will depend on the access going out to sea!
Cambodia has so little left of their great Khmer empire and it is the duty of Cambodian government to help protect the land and the sea from the Vietcong and the Thaicong aggression and for Cambodia to survive as a nation and Cambodia must have a place in the world!
I am not talking about the fucken blessing and I am talking about protecting what is left of Cambodia! You are a fucken retard!
Post a Comment