Another Marine battalion to be deployed in Sulu

Jaime Laude

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Marines Corps (PMC) is sending another battalion to Sulu to help in the operations against Abu Sayyaf bandits in the province and nearby areas.

Capt. Felix Serapio Jr., PMC spokesman, said the 8th Marine Battalion Landing Team (MBLT-8) is ready for deployment in Sulu after a nine-month training in Manila.

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Source: philstar.com

Luxury cruise ships return to Sri Lanka following Easter terror explosions

COLOMBO, June 11 (Xinhua) — Sri Lanka’s leading tour operators said on Tuesday that luxury cruise ships have begun calling at Sri Lanka’s ports following the improved security situation in the island country after the Easter terror attacks on April 21 which killed over 250 people.

Aitken Spence Maritime, agents for Hapag-Lloyd, was quoted by local media as saying that the shipping groups MS Europa 2 cruise ship called at Sri Lanka’s Colombo Port in the capital and Hambantota port in the south recently with 309 passengers and 356 crew onboard.

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Source: xinhuanet.com

Nigeria’s Economy Bleeds with N995bn Loss Annually to Crude Oil Theft’

By Babatunde Akinsola

A consultant to the Nigeria Natural Resource Charter (NNRC), Mr. Niyi Awodeyi, has disclosed that about N995.2 billion is lost annually due to crude oil theft. Awodeyi, which said the amount was discovered in a recent findings, also estimated that N3.8trillion was lost in 2016.

Awodeyi, who also quoted a World Bank report stated that 80 per cent of crude oil revenue in Nigeria was in possession of just one percent of the country’s population, stated that the award of security contracts, “gave the actors access to the pipelines”, with surprise increase in crude oil theft.

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Source: naija247news.com

Maritime security: “The Indian Ocean has become a hub for drug trafficking,” says SAJ

File image of an approach on a dhow

BY EMILY PAYEN, BY PREITY RAMESSUR-BHOYROO

A presentation by the Ministerial Maritime Security in Eastern and Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (ESA-OI) took place at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Tuesday 11 June. The meeting was attended by Minister Mentor Sir Anerood Jugnauth and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nando Bodha.

“The Indian Ocean has become a hub of drug trafficking,” said the minister’s mentor. He explained that “we must take steps to counter this problem.”

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Source: defimedia.info

India spends big on Maldives security

Indian leader Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated a coastal radar system and military training center in the Maldives on Saturday, as New Delhi seeks to fend off Chinese influence in the strategically-placed nation

The Maldives, a low-lying archipelago of more than a thousand tiny coral islands south of the Indian subcontinent, straddles the world’s busiest east-west maritime route.

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Source: english.alarabiya.net

A Maldivian coast guard ship Hurawee (801) (formerly Indian Navy Ship Tillanchang T62) serves as a non-compliant vessel during an exercise for a visit, board, search and seizure team assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Dubuque (LPD 8). Dubuque is participating in Operation Bungalow Breeze with the Maldives National Defense Forces. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class David McKee/Released)

Nigeria ranks highest in piracy, vessel stowaways — Insurance report

Nike Popoola

Nigeria overtook Indonesia in global piracy incidents in the maritime sector, accounting for one out of every four reported cases in 2018, according to the latest report by Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, a global corporate insurance carrier and a key business unit of Allianz Group.

The report also revealed that Nigeria’s port saw the highest number of reported cases of stowaways on commercial vessels.

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Source: punchng.com

Kenya wins accolades from France for establishing Coast Guard

Philip Mwakio

The French Government has commended Kenya for establishing a Coast Guard Unit to police its vast Coastal maritime waters.

President Uhuru Kenyatta late last year unveiled the Kenya Coast Guard Service (KCGS) and launched into service its first offshore patrol boat christened Doria in Mombasa.

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Source: standardmedia.co.ke

Nigerian piracy levels deemed ‘unacceptable’, international solutions sought

SAM CHAMBERS

Some of shipping’s top stakeholders met on Friday at the London headquarters of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to demand action to counter the dire piracy situation off the Gulf of Guinea, which is causing severe distress for seafarers who have to transit the region.

The event, co-sponsored by BIMCO, IMCA, ICS, ITF and OCIMF, drew members of the shipping community, flag states and agencies from the Gulf of Guinea.

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Source: splash247.com

3 ‘Abu Sayyaf members’ nabbed in Zamboanga City

By Teofilo Garcia, Jr.

ZAMBOANGA CITY — Police arrested Wednesday three members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in this southern port city.

The Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) identified the arrested ASG members as Jamik Ibrahim, Majuk Amil, and Hasim Aming. Ibrahim and Amil were arrested in Barangay Arena Blanco, while Aming in Magay, Barangay Zone 1.

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Source: pna.gov.ph

Is Kenya staring at fresh security threats in a maritime row?

by Carson Jnr

For the past few weeks, Kenya’s diplomatic relations with the Federal Republic of Somalia has steadily been getting worse, thanks to the ongoing maritime row pitting oil wells along the Indian Ocean.

Amid the row, it is apparent that Kenya could be staring at fresh security threats from terrorist groups as  Al-Shabaab, and to some extent, the ISIS who might be watching from a distance, hoping that Kenya gets into a war with Somalia.

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Source: hivisasa.com