Three fishermen kidnapped by Venezuelan bandits
and held for ransom were released late Wednesday night after
US$13,000 was paid for their safe return.
Fishermen
Ramkissoon Harricharan, 64, Carlo Sneider, 61, of Lovers Lane,
Icacos and a 24-year-old Venezuelan man identified as Amelto were
released by their captors on Wednesday night, shaken but in
otherwise good health.
The three were snatched at gunpoint around 7 am on Tuesday while fishing off Galfa Point in Icacos about half a mile from the shore.
An explosion has caused a fire on an Iranian tanker near the coast of Saudi Arabia, Iranian media say.
The
vessel, from Iran’s national oil company (NOIC), was 60 miles (97km)
from the Saudi port city of Jeddah when the incident took place, reports
said.
The ship’s two main storage tanks were said to be damaged, causing an oil spill into the Red Sea, but no-one was injured.
NOIC claimed the vessel was hit by missiles, but did not provide evidence.
Iran’s national tanker company (NITC) said the fire had been put out and the oil spillage reduced to a minimum, according to the news site Iran Front Page.
Iranian state TV identified the ship as the oil tanker
Sinopa. The maritime vessel tracking firm Tanker Trackers said the
tanker was regularly used to ferry oil to the Syrian government, despite
international sanctions.
The incident came amid heightened tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Last
month, 18 drones and seven cruise missiles hit a major oil field and
processing facility in Saudi Arabia, which blamed Iran for the attack.
And
US officials said Iran was responsible for attacks on two oil tankers
in the Gulf in June and July, as well as attacks on another four tankers
in May.
POLICE on Wednesday confirmed that US$20,000 is now being demanded
for the safe release of three Icacos fishermen who were abducted at sea
on Tuesday morning.
But Sgt Rishi Ramsaran told Newsday, reports that relatives of the men were robbed when they went to pay the initial ransom of US$10,000 were untrue. “It was discovered that it is a hoax. But a family member reported that they received a telephone call that the captors increased the ransom from US$10,000 to US$20,000,” Ramsaran said.
Concerned indigenes of Bonny under the aegis of Bonny Stakeholders Vanguard (BSV) have threatened to shut down movement, and boat shuttles of Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) should the deplorable security situation in Bonny Island continue unabated, without security intervention.
The group who gave this indication has also accused security agencies especially the Police, Marine Police and Navy of complicity in protecting perpetrators of crime and violence on the Island.
Piqued by the manner at which foreign trawlers get away with illegal and irresponsible fishing in the Gulf of Guinea (GOG), the Nigerian Navy has affirmed that Nigeria and other member countries may be dealing with international conspiracy.
Hence, Maritime stakeholders from about 70 countries at the Global Maritime Security Conference, agreed that GOG states and the international community should put in place mechanisms that would ensure that resources that are illegally harvested or explored including stolen oil, and illegal fishery are internationally banned as the case of blood diamonds.
MANILA, Philippines — With still no contact or proof of life, authorities believe that a British businessman and his wife who were snatched in a coastal village in Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur and their captors are constantly on the move.
Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) chief, said the kidnappers are on the run with their victims to evade government forces.
Venezuelan pirates who operate out of Patos
Island, one of Venezuela’s small uninhabited island, have
reportedly kidnapped three Icacos fishermen for ransom.
The island is located in the northwestern Gulf of Paria and is said to be one of the hideouts for desperate Venezuelan pirates who kidnap and smuggle drugs and guns in exchange for basic necessities.
Country gets meagre 40 percent of fishes in the ocean
Nigeria may be losing billions of dollars to illegal fishing yearly following the unabated fraudulent activities of poachers on the nation territorial waters.
Nigerian ship owners are worried that they only take 40 percent of what they should be getting while 60 percent is lost to illegal and irresponsible fishing.
In a ruling issued Monday, the High Court of London ruled that the tanker Brillante Virtuoso was irreparably damaged not by pirates, as her owner and banker claimed, but by a group of conspirators. Justice Nigel Teare found that the owner’s claims of piracy were improbable, and he reached the “firm conclusion” that the attackers intended to destroy the vessel, that they had the assistance of the master and chief engineer as they went about the task, and that the owner orchestrated the scheme in order to defraud his insurer.
On July 6, 2011, Brillante Virtuoso was drifting off Aden, awaiting a team of unarmed security contractors before transiting Bab el-Mandeb. A small boat approached carrying seven masked, armed men. The men informed the crew that they were “security,” and they came aboard with the master’s permission. (The disputants in the case agreed that the boarding party’s members were likely current or former Yemeni Coast Guard or Navy servicemenbers.) They ordered the crew to the day room, and escorted the master to the bridge and the chief engineer to the engine room.
Maritime Security News 