Category: smuggling

House committee on navy wants partnership with maritime stakeholders

By Agosi Todo

House of Representatives Committee on Nigerian Navy has sought partnership with the Navy, sister agencies and other stakeholders to work towards enhancing and securing the maritime industry.

Chairman of the committee, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi stated this yesterday at a stakeholders meeting in Calabar, Cross River State, saying the House was considering what could be done to further consolidate the existing partnership with the Navy, sister agencies and maritime stakeholders.

To continue reading, please click here.

Source: guardian.ng

National Assembly to secure maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters to Nigerian Navy

By

The National Assembly said it would make funds available for the procurement of patrol aircraft, Maritime patrol aircraft, and helicopters as well as refurbish other worn out facilities in the Nigerian Navy, Eastern Naval command.

The House Committee Chairman on Navy, Mr Yusuf Gagdi, disclosed this on Tuesday at the Forward Operating Base, Ibaka, Mbo Local Government Area during a tour of facilities in the Command.

To continue reading, please click here.

Source: dailypost.ng

Stakeholders laud appointment of Jamoh as NIMASA boss

By Sulaimon Salau

The appointment of a new helmsman at the affairs of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has drawn series of commendations from stakeholders in the maritime sector who believed that the regime would berth new dawn for the sector.

Bashir Jamoh is considered the first NIMASA DG to have risen through the ranks to clinch the seat of director-general.

To continue reading, please click here.

Source: guardian.ng

Drugs worth $33m seized in Sri Lanka’s biggest ever bust

Navy seizes vessel with 400kg heroin and 100kg crystal methamphetamine near capital Colombo.

Two foreign trawlers packed with over $33m worth of heroin and crystal methamphetamine were seized in Sri Lanka’s biggest-ever drugs bust at sea, a navy spokesman said on Thursday.

Troops found 400kg (about 880 pounds) of heroin and 100kg (about 220 pounds) of the drug “ice” on board the two vessels, spokesman Isuru Sooriyabandara said.

To continue reading, please click here.

Source: aljazeera.com

WesMinCom hosts Indonesia, Malaysia in trilateral security conference

By Bonita Ermac 

ZAMBOANGA CITY – The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP)-Western Mindanao Command (WesMinCom) hosted the Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines Trilateral Security Conference at the Garden Orchid Hotel here, Thursday, March 5.

Representatives from the AFP general headquarters, their Indonesian and Malaysian counterparts, and the top WesMinCom officers and its subordinate units joined in the activity.

To continue reading, please click here.

Source: news.mb.com.ph

The United States and Gabon Assume the Co-Secretariat of the Friends of Gulf of Guinea

The Department of State is pleased to announce that the United States and the Republic of Gabon have assumed the co-secretariat of the Friends of Gulf of Guinea, also known as the FoGG, for calendar year 2020.

Working together, we will promote unimpeded global commerce and freedom of navigation; strengthen sustainable marine ecosystems, including fish stocks and related seafood supply chains; and enhance maritime governance in the Gulf of Guinea.

The Gulf of Guinea is vital for the shipment of goods, but it is also a rich marine ecosystem that millions of Africans depend on for their livelihoods. We welcome the active participation of all the regional coastal states to make progress in these critical areas.

Source: state.gov

EFCC Arraigns Bunkerers, Vessel for Illegal Oil Deal

By Tony Orilade

EFCC Arraigns Bunkerers, Vessel for Illegal Oil Deal The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Wednesday, March 4, 2020, arraigned four suspected criminals and a vessel before Justice A.M. Liman of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos on a three-count charge bordering on illegal dealing in petroleum products.

The defendants, Ukwuoma Ahamefula, Omeogor Nelson, Efemuaya Evans and Jude Eghreriniovo, were arrested alongside a vessel, MV Tim Begele, by the Nigerian Navy and subsequently handed over to the EFCC for prosecution.

One of the counts reads: “That you, MV Tim Begele, Ukwuoma Ahamefula, Omeogor Nelson, Efemuaya Evans, Jude Eghreriniovo and others now at large on the 3rd of December, 2019, within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, conspired among yourselves to commit an offence to wit: dealing in 3,911 metric tons of petroleum products without appropriate licence; and you, thereby, committed an offence contrary to Section 3(6) of the Miscellaneous Offences Act, Cap M17, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 and punishable under Section 1(17) of the same Act.”

They pleaded “not guilty” to the charge preferred against them.

In view of their pleas, counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, prayed the court for a trial date and also asked that the defendants be remanded in Nigerian Correctional Services, NCS.

Counsel for the defendants, Peter Atabo, prayed the Court for a short date to enable the hearing of his clients’ applications for bail.

Consequently, Justice Liman adjourned the matter until April 1, 2020 for hearing and also ordered the defendants to be remanded in the NCS.

Source: prnigeria.com

Russian Baltic Fleet warship visits Sri Lanka in anti-piracy deployment to Indian Ocean

Photo: PO Lee Blease/MOD via Wikipedia and OGL

Yaroslav Mudry guard ship will search for a notional enemy’s submarine with a Ka-27 helicopter’s take-off while the anti-terror squads on the ships and vessels will practice various scenarios of fighting pirates in the Indian Ocean

MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet guard ship Yaroslav Mudry has made a planned business call at the port of Colombo in Sri Lanka in its anti-piracy deployment to the Indian Ocean, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

“During its anchorage in Colombo, the crew will replenish fresh water, fuel and food supplies and technically inspect the ship. After completing its visit that will last through March 6, the Baltic Fleet guard ship will continue its anti-piracy watch in the Indian Ocean,” the press office said in a statement.

To continue reading, please click here.

Source: lankaweb.com

Niger Delta: Smuggling, insecurity rise at private jetties

By Godfrey Bivbere

STAKEHOLDERS in the maritime industry have raised an alarm over high-level of smuggling through operations at the various private jetties scattered across the nation’s waterfront, even as they warmed about the security implication of an unregulated operations at these facilities.

Private jetties are licensed by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA; the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA; and the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA, making effective regulation complicated.

To continue reading, please click here.

Source: vanguardngr.com

Maritime security concerns in Gulf of Aden

Tradewinds today (March 4th) reports that two tankers and a LNG carrier took evasive action off the coast of Yemen to avoid a ‘cluster of suspicious skiffs’. One vessel reported an approach to around 130m, but none of the vessels was attacked.

The news comes during a period of apparent increased suspicious activity in the region, with reports of approaches off Djibouti and in the IRTC in the Gulf of Aden at the end of February, as well as the beginning of March.

So far, no agency is identifying the incidents as piracy-related, given that no obvious piracy ‘tripwires’ were reported (these would include sightings of weapons, ladders and so on). The news will not please the shipping industry, given the peace enjoyed by seafarers off the Somali coast in recent years.

Despite the fall in piracy, the nature of threats in the region continues to evolve, with rebels allied to the al Houthi cause threatening Saudi coalition vessels in the Red Sea, and the news that naval mines have been seen in the region; one report recently suggested that three fishing vessel crew were killed by a mine in early February.