They zip around now in speedboats often equipped with radar and navigation aids, heavily armed with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles, operating under cover of darkness in the treacherous waters of the South China Sea and Malacca Straits.

The Japanese cargo vessel Alondra Rainbow and its cargo of 7000 tonnes of aluminum ingots, was one such target. Hijacked by a ten-member gang of pirates, believed to be Indonesians, in the Malacca Straits on October 22, the vessel was intercepted off Goa on Tuesday after a high speed chase involving naval warships and coast guard patrol vessels.

The interception of the hijacked vessel in the joint operation was the first incident of piracy in Indian waters.

``Monday's operation was significant in that rarely ever are pirated ships found, theyare repainted and reflagged and simply disappear into the expanse of the sea, their cargo sold off in mid-sea transfers and the ships later sold off as scrap,'' says Commodore Mahendra P Taneja, Chief Staff Officer (Operations) of the Western Naval Command.

``While in the old days pirates made the crew of captive ships walk the plank, these days, it's far more simpler- they simply shoot them,'' said Commodore Taneja. The crew of the Alondra Rainbow was lucky, being offloaded by the pirates off the coast of Thailand into a liferaft on November 2. However the crew of the Japanese cargo vessel Tenya Maru off the Sumatra coast last year was not so luck. All the 15 crewmen were shot and thrown into the water by pirates.

While armed robbery against anchored ships is frequently reported at several South American and African ports, it is only in the South China Sea and narrow Malacca Straits that pirates attack ships while they sail, stalking and hunting their quarry with the ruthless precision of a lion huntinggazelle in the Serengeti. ``They first cruise alongside the ships, slowly picking out their quarry, going in for the weakest and most unprepared,'' says veteran sailor Captain Manekshaw Patrawala, who recalls several instances of mysterious speedboats `casing' merchant vessels as they transited the Malacca Straits.

The narrow straits are particularly favoured since they are amongst the busiest shipping lanes with the continuous parade of ships traveling within a few cables of each other. The islands of the Indonesian archipelago offers the pirates excellent cover.

Piracy has made it in the last few years into the Admirality List of Radio Signals (ALRS) issued to all mariners.

According to the ALRS, pirates operate between 1 and 6 am. High-speed, low profile craft come alongside the intended target usually approaching from the stern but also the sides if the ship has a low freeboard or is closer to the waterline, (as in the Alondra Rainbow). Pirates clamber up the ship using grappling irons hooked ontothe ship's rails or by climbing poles.

However, pirates have shown considerable skill and daring and have boarded ships while travelling in excess of 17 knots and even with high freeboards.The speedboat riding pirates often employ ingenious devices to come alongside and board ships. Two of them lay a rope across the straits and wait for the merchant ship to sail into it. The lumbering merchantman carries the rope forward and the two speedboats tethered to it, automatically come alongside the ship. The pirates then scramble onboard firing into the air to terrorise the crew.

While the small time pirates are satisfied by looting cash and valuables from the crew, the organised pirate syndicates often armed with complete cargo manifests, go after the whole cargo. Ships carrying consumer electronics and metals are particularly favoured and tankers and bulk carriers are given the go-by.

Sometimes the stolen goods are sent to agents for sale or alternatively for claiming insurance, which in any case runs intomillions of dollars. Majority of the hijacked vessels are sold to ship-breaking yards for rates varying between 110 to 140 US dollars per tonnes.

Intelligence reports indicate that most of the stolen goods are sold at 50 percent of the actual price. The high seas aren't exactly the best place to go looking for a buyer of the cargo and ship, so the pirates identify vessel and potential buyers for its cargo before the hijacking, said Coast Guard Commander in Chief (West) Arun Mahajan. ``The hijacked vessels mostly carry illicit cargos and arms as no legal shipping agents would give them business,'' Mahajan added.

Ships transiting the Malacca Straits routinely follow the ALRS' anti attack plan of illuminating the ship side, posting lookouts with radio sets and radioing a global distress signal. ``Just as hijackers head for the cockpit in a hijack, pirates head for the bridge in a merchantman,'' says Captain Patrawala. Hence the bridge is often barricaded and ropes tied around ladders to prevent access.Typically, the best defence for a ship are usually their fire hoses, set on full pressure. A sustained blast of this is likely to deter the hardiest of pirates, say sailors.