UNGERIN

History

Established in March 2006, the Unit Gempur Marin was created under the Royal Malaysia Police with the first name as the Unit Selam Tempur due to the pressing need of suppressing pirate attacks alongside the coastal area of Malacca Straits and open sea area of South China Sea which were continuously widespread from time to time despite various efforts done to overcome the problem. Throughout the year of 2006, 239 cases of pirate attacks were reported according to statistics of the International Maritime Bureau, Kuala Lumpur.

As a result of concentrated efforts by Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, the piracy activities were drastically reduced. Nevertheless, law enforcement agencies from the 3 countries continue to be vigilant against pirate activity in the Straits of Malacca.

For the unit's restructing, the name of UST was changed to Unit Gempur Marin or UNGERIN in the year 2008. Its eventual goal is to have 200 operators on standby with UNGERIN.

Roles

The roles of the RMP UNGERIN are predominantly focused on, but not restricted to the littoral and riverine waterborne domains, including:

For this, UNGERIN operators are to patrol the following places:

Training

Based on this critical need, a specific doctrine from RMP led to the establishment of a marine elite unit performing said task. Approximately 30 members of the squad (69 Commandos Special Forces were sent to this unit), and the unit will be upgraded to a strength of 100 in the future with 70 personnel employed in stages in the duration of two years after receiving approval from the Public Service Department, which are divided to three detachments, to guard the waters of Malacca Straits and the Sulu Sea. This unit was basically trained by the 69 Commandos of PGK. The unit was trained by the US Navy SEALs from a training exercise code-named Fusion Mint. Training is also carried out with the aid of US Coast Guard and various intelligence agencies.

The unit is currently being trained in Langkawi and Kota Kinabalu. Most of these instructors were US Navy SEAL personnels. Besides the advanced diving training, they will be trained with other advanced training, including tactical warfare, marksmanship, sniping, bomb disposal, direct action, sabotage, counter-terrorism, and intelligence gathering as well as paramedic training, along with special missions which are normally handled by special forces.

On 2 February 2007, UST anti-terror marine police and 69 Commandos trained abroad with the Japan Coast Guard (JCG), Royal Thai Marine Police (RTMP) and Thai Marine Department (TMD) for the combating maritime robberies exercise at waters of Ku Tarutao, Thailand, four nautical miles from the Malaysia-Thai border. The Japan Coast Guard deployed the PLH22 YASHIMA 5,000 tons patrol vessel to Langkawi for this mock exercise.

UNGERIN has recently participated with the Royal Malaysian Navy on 28 March 2009.

Capabilities

UNGERIN has been trained in maritime capabilities such as:

On qualification, Marine Police of the UNGERIN wear the blue berets with light blue hackle and camouflage uniform, the uniforms worn by paramilitary and special forces of RMP. All tactics of maritime commandos are exactly similar to those of the UK Special Boat Service as well as US Navy and USMC commando special force units.

As part of UNGERIN's restructuring, all marine police bases would be made coastal police stations with forward bases to double as coastal police posts for UNGERIN forces to rapidly respond to maritime threats. Furthermore, the unit is very active in developing and testing methods and tactics for these missions.

Weaponry and equipments

UNGERIN officers are frequently seen armed with a Bushmaster Carbon 15 carbine when an operation or a raid is conducted while the Walther P99QA pistol is used as the standard sidearm. However, the Carbon 15 is cancelled for used when it's suffered the mechanical defectors in the charging handle holder and replaced by M16A1 rifles.

They also use a varied arsenal of weapons such as the Glock 19 pistols, Heckler & Koch HK512 and Remington 870 shotguns, Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun, Accuracy International Arctic Warfare sniper rifles and Heckler & Koch PSG1 marksmen rifles, Heckler & Koch HK11 general purpose machinegun, M203 grenade launcher and Colt CM901 battle rifles.

The unit has its own RHIB navy transport speedboat with the capacity of holding 10 passengers and able to travel at 60+ knots, two engines with 250 brake horsepower to increase its maritime operational capabilities. On 11 July 2007, the RMP purchased 10 units of Marine Alutech Watercat M14 PSC class landing craft vessels from Marine Alutech OY AB Service with 22 passengers capacity and 30 knots speed, possibly equipped with 12.7mm NSV machinegun, 40mm grenade machinegun and 120m Patria NEMO mortar for use by marine police as well as UNGERIN operatives for amphibious assault duties even in shallow waters. The boats are built by Geliga Slipway Sdn Bhd in Malaysia. The boats are to be supplied in 2008-2009.

For equipment, UNGERIN basically uses commercial scuba diver equipment. All operatives also equipped with lightweight PRO-TEC helmets, fire-resistant Nomex coveralls, or BDUs (battle dress uniform), Plate Carrier for carrying ammunition and specialist equipment, tactical gloves, balaclava or protective face covering, protective eye goggles, Gas mask, flashlight (usually a Surefire or Heckler & Koch brand), combat steel reinforced boots, flexi-cuffs, and thigh ammo. Ballistic vests including rigid plate inserts, are standard issue. These vests are labelled with "POLICE", RMP insignia, or not labelled, to allow for easy identification. They often use drop leg holsters, while some officers prefer hip holsters.

Operation Barracuda

UNGERIN operators had participated in an anti-smuggling operation, seized smuggled RM2mil worth of contraband liquor, beer and cigarettes smuggled in from Labuan. Two local youths were nabbed while several others fled into the mangrove swamp when police identified themselves at 9pm on Sunday at Sungai Kampung Tananak near Menumbok, about 130 km.

That 30 personnel, led by ASP Fauzi Bin Ibrahim, seized 1,100 liquor bottles and 36,700 packets of various cigarette brands in a special operation codenamed Ops Barracuda. They also seized nine boats, each equipped with 200HP engines, used for smuggling operations between the duty-free island and mainland Sabah. Police were investigating the activities of the syndicate and trying to identify the mastermind.

Operation Daulat

The operators was sent to Lahad Datu, Sabah as part of the Malaysian security forces team to secure the area from an armed terrorists known as Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo (Malay: Angkatan Bersenjata Diraja Kesultanan Sulu dan Borneo Utara). Other than the official duties of storming, searching and "cleaning up" the villages the terrorists entered, the UNGERIN has also been busy doing something similar, but in charge of coastal areas. Led by ASP Mohd Aris Bin Jambul as a Field Commander of Marine 4th Region, an UNGERIN operators perform to secure a 20 km beachhead from Kampung Tanduo to Kampung Tanjung Batu, Kampung Labian, Kampung Sungai Bilis and Kampung Sungai Nyamuk, to be currently unoccupied.