Category: Kidnap for Ransom

UAE takes over the chair of IORA

Ismail Sebugwaawo

Piracy, armed robbery, drug smuggling and human trafficking are some of the major challenges faced in the Indian Ocean waters, according to members of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).

Speaking at a Press conference on the sidelines of the 19th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) that concluded in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, Khurshed Alam, secretary of the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs and deputy secretary-general of the IORA, said almost 40,000 ships are passing through the waters of Indian Ocean daily.

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Source: khaleejtimes.com

 

Boat Drivers Want Navy, Marine Police On Rivers Waterways

Bakana Boat Drivers Union, an umbrella body of boat operators in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers state, has called on the state government to deploy Navy and Marine police to waterways as a way of curbing sea piracy in the state.

Chairman of the union, Alabo Benson Yellow, made the appeal while speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt on the recent boat attack that led to the killing of three passengers at Bille Jetty by pirates, at the weekend.

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Source: thetidenewsonline.com

Suspected Abu Sayyaf member nabbed, 16 pipe bombs seized during Sulu ops

A suspected Abu Sayyaf member was nabbed by government security forces during a follow-up operation in Indanan, Sulu on Tuesday.

On Thursday, authorities identified the alleged local terrorist as a certain Mang. He reportedly confessed to authorities about some improvised explosive device at a safehouse in Barangay Paligue.

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Source: gmanetwork.com

Sea robbers unleash terror on Bonny, Okrika, Ogoni waterways

By Tola Adenubi

N the last one month, sea robbers have unleashed terror on passenger speed boats plying the Bonny, Okrika, Bille, Andoni, Kula and Ogoni river waterways in Rivers State, killing security operatives in the process and carting away personal belongings of boat passengers, including taking away boat engines during such attacks.

Disclosing this to Tribune Online on Wednesday via telephone interview, a member of the Trustee of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Harry White wondered what has happened to gunboats that were recently procured by the Rivers State government to tackle maritime crimes.

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Source: tribuneonlineng.com

ESSZone curfew extended to Nov 22

KOTA KINABALU, Nov 6 — The curfew in the waters off seven districts in the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (ESSZone), which ends tomorrow, has been extended until November 22, said Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Omar Mammah.

Omar, in a statement today said the curfew from 6pm to 6am covered the waters off Tawau, Semporna, Kunak, Lahad Datu, Kinabatangan, Sandakan and Beluran.

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Source: malaymail.com

Piracy: Community Chairman Wants Deployment Of Gunboats

Worried by the unabated sea pirate attacks which have resulted in constant fears and loss of several lives on the waterways, Chairman of the Community Development Committee of Bille Kingdom, Dr Somieari Isaac, has pleaded with the government to deploy the Navy to station in the New Calabar and Sombriero Rivers to check criminality on the waterways.

Making the appeal in a chat with The Tide, last Monday, in Port Harcourt, the CDC Chairman noted that several months after the Governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, and the Chairman of DELGA, Dr Tony Philmoore, launched the ‘Operation Sting’ security outfit, the community is yet to see a single gunboat patrolling the waterways.

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Source: thetidenewsonline.com

3 feared dead in Rivers sea pirate attack

Victor Edozie

Three persons are feared dead when gunmen suspected to be sea pirates in the early hours of Saturday attacked three passengers boats en-route Port Harcourt from Billie in Degema Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Eyewitness account had it that the gunmen, who attacked the boats separately along the route, also carted away properties belonging to passengers.

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Source: dailytrust.com.ng

Nine sailors abducted off the coast of Benin

MV Bonita, image via J.J. Ugland.

A Norway-based shipping company says that nine of its employees have been abducted from one of its vessels while it was moored off the coast of Benin in West Africa.

Shipping firm J.J. Ugland said the cargo ship, the Bonita, was attacked on Saturday by pirates 15km (9 miles) off the coast.

The crew’s identity and nationality have not been made public, but the shipping firm said the rest of the crew moved the vessel into the Port of Cotonou in Benin.

The ship was carrying a cargo of gypsum, a mineral commonly used as fertiliser, which was destined for Benin, the firm said.

While piracy has decreased world wide, West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea remains notorious for abductions by armed groups who usually demand ransoms for the safe return of victims.

Several abductions have been reported in the region in recent months, including eight crew members taken from a German-owned vessel off Cameroon in August, and 10 Turkish sailors off the coast of Nigeria in July.

Source: bbc.com

7 soldiers wounded in separate encounters with suspected Abu Sayyaf members in Sulu

Seven soldiers were wounded following separate clashes with suspected Abu Sayyaf men in Patikul, Sulu on Wednesday, a regional military spokesperson said Thursday.

According to Armed Forces Western Mindanao Command’s Major Arvin Encinas, the first encounter lasted for 50 minutes when operating troops of the 1st Scout Ranger Battalion engaged the local terrorists at Sitio Kan Mindang in Barangay Pangdanon.

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Source: gmanetwork.com