We cover piracy, armed robbery at sea, IUU fishing, maritime cyber security and maritime security issues.
BY BEN TAN
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Notorious Abu Sayyaf sub-commander “Idang” Susukan who is wanted by both Malaysia and the Philippines has been arrested in Davao City on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
Philippines police caught Idang yesterday at the house of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari, The Star reported.
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Source: malaymail.com
By Cynthia Alo The Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh, has described the conviction of three persons in connection with vessel hijack on the Gulf of Guinea, as a signal that Nigeria is on the right path in the war against piracy and other crimes on the nation’s waterways.
The Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had, two days ago, convicted the persons who were accused of involvement in the hijack of an Equatorial Guinean flagged vessel named, MV ELOBEY VI, off Equatorial Guinea’s coast on March 21, 2020.
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Source: vanguardngr.com
A Nigerian court has completed its first ever convictions using the nation’s new anti-piracy law, and the defendents have been sentenced to a five-figure fine. There is a twist, however: according to Nigerian media, the accused are not pirates as traditionally conceived, but rather the local employees and managers of a global private security company.
Last month, nine individuals affiliated with the Lagos branch of a UK-based global security company were charged in connection with the boarding and maritime kidnapping incident aboard the ro/ro ferry Elobey VI. The men were accused of involvement in a criminal conspiracy that resulted in the abduction of three crewmembers from the vessel off Equatorial Guinea on March 21. The captives were released in mid-May after the payment of a $200,000 ransom.
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Source: maritime-executive.com
Mozambique’s defence forces have said fighting for the key port of Mocimboa da Praia is continuing, after reports it had fallen to Islamist militants on Wednesday.
The military said there was ongoing action to – as it put it – neutralise the terrorists, who were using the local population as shields.
There have been days of fighting for the port in the gas-rich north of Mozambique.
The militants – linked to the Islamic State group – have briefly taken a number of northern towns in recent months, displacing tens of thousands of people.
Tanzania has said it will launch an offensive against the jihadists in forests bordering Mozambique.
Source: bbc.co.uk
In July 2020, six incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia. Of the six incidents, one was a piracy incident and five were armed robbery against ships.
There was no report of abduction of crew in the Sulu-Celebes Seas and waters off Eastern Sabah, Malaysia in July 2020. However, the abduction of crew for ransom remains a serious concern as demonstrated by the Warning issued by the ReCAAP ISC on 2 July that five Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) members were planning to conduct abduction of crew from ships passing by Tawi-Tawi and Sabah waters.
The ReCAAP ISC is also concerned about the continued occurrence of incidents on board ships while underway in the Singapore Strait. Three incidents were reported in July 2020. With these, a total of 19 incidents were reported in the Singapore Strait during January-July 2020 comprising 15 incidents occurred in the eastbound lane of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), two incidents in the precautionary area, one incident in the westbound lane of the TSS and one incident just outside (south) of the TSS.
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Source: recaap.org
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On July 17, 2020, the tanker Curacao Trader was boarded by pirates at a position about 210 nautical miles from Nigerian shores. 13 Russian and Ukrainian seafarers were abducted. Two weeks before, the freighter Kota Budi was boarded about 200 nm from Nigerian shore. What is particularly noticeable about these attacks is the location: when looking at the statistics for 2019, it appears that the average distance of confirmed pirate attacks was 62 nm from shore, with only seven attacks at positions more than 100 nm from shore. In 2020, the average distance of confirmed pirate attacks was 75 nm, and there have already been several pirate attacks at positions more than 100 nm from shore.
Despite the improvement of the regional cooperation demonstrated in the response to the Hai Lu Feng 11 attack in May, despite the arrival of new maritime platforms, despite the use of surveillance systems like the Deep Blue project in Nigeria, it is obvious that pirates are a permanent threat off West Africa. The increase of pirates’ operational range is not a surprise for informed observers. This trend was seen in the Indian Ocean between 2004 and 2010, when Somali pirates reached almost to the west coast of India. This evolution is not due to chance – it’s simply the search for “soft locations,” areas where no means of coercion prevent the act of piracy or react quickly enough to intervene in a boarding or kidnapping. West African pirates thus demonstrate their capacity for adaptation.
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Source: maritime-executive.com
PAGADIAN CITY, Zamboanga del Sur – The Police Regional Office (PRO-9) has activated “Task Force Pink Panther” to boost security in “risk areas” and address threat groups in the region. Brig. Gen. Jesus Cambay Jr., PRO-9 director, who led the activation of the task force Monday, said the unit will consist of five task groups to secure the region’s coastlines.
In an interview Tuesday, Cambay said the task force will consist of policemen, soldiers, and personnel from other line agencies, especially those engaged in law enforcement, like the coast guard, and maritime police.
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Source: pna.gov.ph
The Federal High Court (FHC) Port Harcourt has convicted 3 of nine persons accused of hijacking an Equatorial Guinea flagged vessel on 21 March 2020.
Justice Ishaq Sani summarily convicted the accused on Counts 1 and 2 under the new Anti-Piracy Act 2019 and ordered them to pay a fine of N10 Million Naira each on each of the Counts.
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Source: tv360nigeria.com
As a result of the recent increase of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea, governmental authorities of Bénin have taken pre-emptive measures to prevent such attacks in their territorial waters through a new decree, Concerning Means of Protection of Ships in the Territorial Waters of Bénin.
Any ship bound for a port in Bénin with an armed protection team on board, is required to send through its ship agent, a request for permission to enter Benin’s territorial waters with its own armed onboard protection team.
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Source: hellenicshippingnews.com
BW Offshore has revealed that all of its employees who were kidnapped from its Sendje Berge FPSO back in July have been safely released.
“The company would like to extend its gratitude to those involved in the safe release of everyone who was abducted from the FPSO Sendje Berge,” the company said in a statement posted on its website late last week.
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Source: rigzone.com
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