Maritime gangs are operating in the Singapore Strait with “apparent impunity” a top anti-piracy company has claimed.

Dryad Maritime says piracy across Southeast Asia has seen a stark rise of 38% in the number of incidents in the first nine months of 2015.

The UK maritime intelligence outfit says the number of reported incidents has jumped from 140 in 2014 to 194 between January and September this year.

“The