‘Hijacked’ ship stormed in interagency maritime counter-terror simulation

SINGAPORE: More than 240 personnel from the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Home Team and other agencies took part in an interagency exercise at sea to take down a “hijacked vessel” planning to conduct a terrorist attack on Singapore.

The simulation was part of the five-day Exercise Highcrest, which concluded on Friday (Nov 28), and also included scenarios such as fighting a fire at sea and evacuating casualties.

The annual maritime security exercise aims to strengthen inter-agency coordination, involving personnel from the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), Police Coast Guard, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Singapore Customs and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

TAKING DOWN A TERROR THREAT

In the simulation on Friday off the coast of Changi Naval base, a merchant vessel called Constancy was detected after deviating from normal commercial shipping routes and was assessed to pose a potential threat.

A warning shot was fired from the nearby RSN vessel RSS Justice, where media were present to observe the exercise. The shot served to deter the potentially “hijacked vessel” from advancing.

Following that, two Police Coast Guard craft encircled the rogue vessel, blocking its path toward mainland Singapore.

Special Operations Task Force (SOTF) personnel then arrived - by sea aboard two combatant craft medium motor vessels, and by air on two H225M helicopters operated by the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

The operators on motor vessels mounted a ladder on the side of the ship to climb on board. 

The other SOTF personnel roped down from one of the helicopters, which hovered above the hijacked ship. 

Together, they began to neutralise the threat and take down the “terrorists”. An MPA patrol craft circled the area to secure the perimeter and prevent commercial vessels from approaching.

Then, red smoke began to emanate from the vessel, simulating a fire on the ship. 

Two SCDF vessels approached the ship, and one doused the “fire” with a water cannon.

The other vessel evacuated a casualty using the height rescue method, the first time it has been featured at Exercise Highcrest.  

The casualty is evacuated from the bridge of the hijacked ship and onto the deck of the SCDF rescue vessel, shared Senior Lieutenant Colonel (SLTC) Jackson Pang, the director of the National Maritime Ops Group at the Singapore Maritime Crisis Centre.

“This is in itself very challenging, given the differences in height between the two vessels,” he said. 

“Exercising this component gives us confidence that our maritime security agencies are able to conduct the entire range of operations, from interception of the vessel to evacuation of casualties.”

SEA LINES CRUCIAL TO PROSPERITY: SHANMUGAM

Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam and Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing were also on board the RSS Justice to observe the conduct of Exercise Highcrest. 

Speaking to the media after the live demonstration, Mr Shanmugam said that the waterways and sea lines around Singapore are critical to its prosperity, with maritime trade making up about 7 per cent of the nation's GDP.

“One of the ways in which we can be attacked is through attack on ships in our waterways, or an attack from the sea on to Singapore itself,” he said.

“How do we identify it? How do we provide early warning? How do we take it out? It’s critical for us, and the exercise was well conducted,” he added.

Terrorist attacks from the sea are not unprecedented. In the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which resulted in 175 deaths, terrorists arrived on several boats from the south of Mumbai.  

They then landed on the Indian coastline and launched multiple attacks in the city, lasting up to 60 hours.