Media reports say $20,000 of equipment was stolen fromthe barge RNG280as it transited the Strait ofMalacca en route to Tauranga.

“Theycame up to the back side of the barge…they must have been like monkeys,” FrankLeckey of Resolve Salvage and Fire told The New Zealand Herald.

Leckeysuspected the pirates had watched as specialised salvage equipment was beingloaded onto the barge in Singapore about six weeks ago.

Amongthe