Vietnamese coast guards on Friday arrested eight suspects in the hijacking of Malaysia’s oil tanker Orkim Harmony last week, an officer said.

The suspected pirates were detained on Tho Chu Island, off the southern Vietnamese province of Kien Giang, in the Gulf of Thailand after they escaped from the oil tanker, said Colonel Doan Bao Quyet, political commissar of the Viet Nam Coast Guard (VCG) Zone 4.

They were then escorted to Phu Quoc Island, also a district in Kien Giang, for investigation, he added.

All of the eight suspects are Indonesian, according to a tweet by Malaysia's Chief of Navy admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar.

Vietnamese coast guards are working with one of the eight suspected hijackers of Malaysia's oil tanker Orkim Harmony on June 19, 2015

The Orkim Harmony was reportedly hijacked off Malaysian coast on June 11 when it was carrying 6,000 tons of gasoline at sea, according to the VCG.

At 8 am on Friday, Malaysian authorities informed the VCG that the pirates had released the tanker and fled in its rescue boat.

About 90 minutes later, the Border Guard Station of Tho Chu Island reported to the VCG that a rescue boat carrying eight foreigners, purportedly to be the hijackers, had landed at the island.

These foreigners told local officers that they had been in distress at sea.

The High Command VCG sent its officers and interpreters to the island to coordinate with the local force in questioning the suspects.

Initial sources said the hijackers had shot injured a sailor and beat 11 others of the Orkim Harmony, and robbed money and personal property from them before leaving the ship.

Major General Nguyen Quang Dam, Commander of the VCG, said that the hijackers re-painted the tanker and replaced the vessel’s IMO (International Maritime Organization) number with a fake one to avoid detection.

However, the VCG has closely coordinated with its Malaysian counterparts and other international forces in relentless activities to hunt for the hijacked ship, Major General Dam said.

Such joint activities had put great pressure on the pirates, prompting them to leave the ship in an attempt to escape, the official added.

(Source: Tuoitrenews)