Prepare for war, Lagos CP warns pirates, kidnappers

Taiwo Jimoh

Residents of Ilashe, Ibeshe, Irede, Irewe/Osolu, Igboologun and Takwa Bay in Oriade Local Council Development Area, Amuwo Odufin, Lagos State, may soon be able to sleep with their two eyes closed.

Policemen deployed to the newly constructed Area Command Headquarters have vowed to fight crime on the waterways in the area. The communities were hitherto known for notorious crimes such as oil bunkering, kidnapping and smuggling.

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Source: newtelegraphng.com

Asia Minute: Piracy Surges in Southeast Asia

By Bill Dorman

2020 began with celebrations around the around the world. And as always, the Asia Pacific was the first region to ring in the New Year. But while fireworks an dparties marked the event — there’s also a ton of caution in one area for an unusual reason: pirates.

Pirates are making a bit of a comeback in one of the busiest commercial shipping ares of the world — in Southeast Asia. An industry group says the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Singapore have experienced a rise in sea piracy in recent months, and a relative surge in 2019.

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Source: hawaiipublicradio.org

57 crew kidnapped off West Africa in just one month

Sam Chambers

A total of 57 crew were kidnapped last month in and around the Gulf of Guinea, a similar figure to November with shipping now on high alert as the security situation in in West Africa has spun out of control.

The most recent kidnapping took place on December 30 with security consultants Ambrey reporting eight men were kidnapped from Eastern Mediterranean’s Happy Lady tanker, which has been at anchor for a number of weeks off Limbe in Cameroon. A Greek national was taken to hospital following the attack having been shot.

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Source: splash247.com

Pirates attack Port Harcourt-bound vessel off Bonny

Anna Okon

Pirates attacked a vessel that left Lagos for Port Harcourt while proceeding south west of Bonny Island.

The vessel, Drogba, was attacked on December 30. The ‘Drogba’ enroute from Lagos to Port Harcourt was attacked by armed pirates in a speedboat in vicinity within 48 nautical miles off Bonny.

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Source: punchng.com

How to secure oil pipelines against vandals – Abia community

Oil-bearing communities of Abia have called for more collaboration among the stakeholders for a more effective security around the nation’s oil pipelines to check vandalism and oil bunkering.

The call was made by a cross-section of representatives of 20 oil-bearing and pipeline host communities in Ukwa west and Ukwa east council areas of the state during a one-day stakeholders’ meeting organised by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) on Monday in Umuahia.

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Source: premiumtimesng.com

Two more ships attacked in Gulf of Guinea: Greek and Singaporean, 8 crew kidnapped

Mikhail Voytenko

Bulk carrier VINALINES MIGHTY wasn’t the only one attacked on Dec 30, two more ships were attacked, in different positions, at different time, 8 crew were kidnapped. Two attacks were thwarted by Nigerian armed security teams on board. Shipping in Gulf of Guinea needs private armed guards, provided by international security agencies.

Product tanker HAPPY LADY
Product tanker HAPPY LADY was attacked at around 2300 Dec 30 in position 04 00N 009 06E, some 6 nm SW of Limbe, Cameroon, where tanker is anchored since late November, so maybe she was a happy lady indeed to remain anchored in dangerous waters for such a long time, without being attacked, No other information on this attack yet, no information on crew’s fate, are they safe or kidnapped, or/and injured?
UPDATE: 8 crew out of 28 on board were kidnapped, among them 5 Greeks, 2 Filipinos, and 1 Ukrainian.

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Source: maritimebulletin.net

Mothership identified for Gulf of Guinea pirates

Michelle Wiese Bockmann

Crew on three ships have repelled armed and dangerous pirates in waters off West Africa in the past seven days

AT LEAST two piracy groups working in the Gulf of Guinea are responsible for the recent spate of attacks on tankers and kidnapping of crew, research from maritime security firm Dryad Global concludes.

The London-based company has identified a mothership, which one pirate group is using to operate deep offshore, as well as a separate group that’s exploiting ambiguous and haphazard patrolling on the outskirts of Nigeria’s Economic Exclusion Zone. The EEZ extends for 240 nautical miles.

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Source: lloydslist.maritimeintelligence.informa.com

Piracy attacks off Nigeria rise

Sam Chambers

Piracy attacks off West Africa over the past week have escalated, reaching extraordinarily dangerous proportions where bullets were fired at a moving LNG carrier.

Not for the first time, the BW Group-owned LNG Lokoja was attacked on Saturday morning while en route to Bonny in southern Nigeria. The vessel is understood to have come under attack from a single speedboat with 10 armed men onboard. The pirates are understood to have opened fire on the vessel. Security firm Dryad Global reported the gas carrier conducted evasive maneuvers causing the attack to fail.

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Source: splash247.com

Maritime terrorism a threat, say experts amid rising piracy attacks

Fabian Koh

The increase in piracy attempts in the Singapore Strait is a cause for concern as terrorists could exploit the same loopholes to wreak havoc, say security experts.

Government officials have called for greater collaboration with regional neighbours to address the threat.

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Source: straitstimes.com

Another vessel targeted by pirates in Singapore Strait

Lee Hong Liang

Yet another ship was involved in a piracy incident on Wednesday in the Singapore Strait following five vessels already attacked by pirates earlier on 20 and 23 December, according to an update by ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre (ISC).

On 25 December, an incident occurred to tanker Stena Immortal while underway in the eastbound lane of Singapore Strait when six unarmed perpetrators were sighted in the engine room of the ship.

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Source: seatrade-maritime.com