Nigeria, Others Lose $2bn to Pirates’ Attacks Annually, Says Naval Chief

By Eromosele Abiodun

The Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok Ekwe Ibas, has revealed that Nigeria and 15 other countries in the Gulf of Guinea are currently losing a sum of $2 billion to pirate attacks annually.

The Naval Chief’s revelation was coming two months after Nigeria was rated as number one in pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea in a report by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). Ibas also confirmed THISDAY’s exclusive report that Nigeria loses several millions of dollars to illegal fishing and poaching on the nation’s coastal and territorial waters.

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Source: allafrica.com

Rivers Police keep mum 24 hours after pirates hijack boats

Okafor Ofiebor

More than 24 hours after daredevil gunmen suspected to be Sea pirates at about noon on Thursday hijacked two boats along Port Harcourt-Bonny route, the Rivers State Police Command is yet to comment on the whereabouts of about 24 passengers who were taken into unknown destinations in the mangroves.

Curiously too, the Rivers Government has also not reacted to to hijack and eventual disappearance of the 24 passengers.

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Source: pmnewsnigeria.com

Pirates hijack 2 boats with 24 passengers in Rivers

Okafor Ofiebor

Sea pirates at about noon today, Thursday, September 26, hijacked two boats on the Port Harcourt-Bonny waterways, whisking away the 24 passengers inside the boats.

An Eyewitness, Ezekiel Hart, and an indigene of Bonny, said the two boats took off from Port Harcourt jetty and were fully loaded passengers and goods. He said the passengers and crew were sailing smoothly until the armed pirates ambushed them at a location on the high seas called “Yellow Platform”.

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Source: thenewsnigeria.com.ng

UK tanker leaves Iranian port after being seized in July

DUBAI (Reuters) – The British-flagged Stena Impero tanker left Iran’s Bandar Abbas port on Friday after being detained since July by Iranian forces and was heading toward international waters.

The Stena Impero was seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in the Strait of Hormuz waterway for alleged marine violations two weeks after Britain detained an Iranian tanker off the territory of Gibraltar. The Iranian ship was released in August.

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Source: reuters.com

Navy arrests 26 crew, four foreigners over illegal fishing

Nigerian Navy (NN) says it has arrested 26 crew and confiscated two fishing trawlers belonging to a Nigerian Company, (ORC fishing and food processing Limited) for illegal fishing activities.

The Operation Commander, Operation FORMOSO, Suleiman Ibrahim, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that his men also arrested four foreigners for illegal fishing activities within the restricted distance of five nautical miles off the Nigerian coastline.

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Source: premiumtimesng.com

Maritime security: Navy urges IOC’s to share intelligence

Olaleye Aluko

The Nigerian Navy has urged international oil companies operating in the Niger Delta region to ensure information and intelligence sharing as parts of efforts to combat oil theft and achieve a safe environment in the region.

The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice-Admiral Ibok Ete-Ibas, stated this on Tuesday when he received the Managing Director of Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited, Mr Lorenzo Fiorillo, at the naval headquarters in Abuja.

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Source: punchng.com

Navy arrests suspected smugglers, seizes 1,072 bags of rice, others

By Inemesit Akpan-Nsoh

The Nigerian Navy (NN), Forward Operating Base (FOB), Ibaka, in Mbo Local Council of Akwa Ibom State, has vowed to take the fight against smuggling in the riverine area of the state to the communities.Commanding Officer, FOB, Captain Peter Yilme, stated this yesterday while parading suspected smugglers before journalists in Ibaka.

According to him, this new approach would mean the operating base liaising with the communities to fish out the perpetrators before they venture into the sea for the illegal trade.Yilme, who spoke while parading 12 suspected smugglers, 1,072 bags of 50kg smuggled rice and two wooden boats seized from them, said their arrests were made in two different operations, and that the Navy was determined to end smuggling on the waterways.

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Source: guardian.ng

Agency wants EU to expand maritime security mandate over Horn of Africa

By WINNIE ATIENO

A regional maritime organisation wants a European Union military ships operating in the Horn of Africa to extend its mandate to cover all maritime crimes in the Indian Ocean.

The Inter-Governmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS), says the EU NAVFOR Somalia Operation ATALANTA— which mainly focuses on anti-piracy activities — should extend its mandate to deal with all the maritime crimes including terrorism, charcoal smuggling as well as drug and human trafficking.

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Source: businessdailyafrica.com

MSN Note: Expanding the mandate of Operation Atalanta has been discussed for years, but this is the first real credible move. Somalis have been asking for fisheries protection for some time, and a naval presence would go some way to deterring foreign fleets from IUU fishing activity in Somali waters. Additionally, as Somalia and Kenya continue to argue about their respective TTWs, maritime security for oil and gas will become increasingly important in the region. Al Shabaab continues to profit from smuggled charcoal, something which would become much harder with additional maritime security present.

Piracy reports on Nigeria is manipulated – Navy

By Godwin Oritse

The Nigerian Navy has warned the media against carrying the international piracy reports on Nigeria as credible news saying that, “Most of these are manipulated for their economic gains.’’

Speaking at the third Ministerial stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos, Rear Admiral Oladele Daji, said that these reports hurt businesses in Nigeria when they are published.

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Source: vanguardngr.com

Russian seamen kidnapped off Cameroon freed

MOSCOW, Russia – Moscow on Sunday, September 22, said 3 Russian seamen abducted in an act of piracy off the coast of Cameroon in August have been freed and brought to Germany.

The Russians were part of a group of sailors, including Chinese and Ukrainian citizens, taken hostage in mid-August after an attack on their merchant ships in the Gulf of Guinea. In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said they were “released from pirate captivity” and that their health was “satisfactory.”

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Source: rappler.com