Navy: Fighting crime within the waterways

Philip Nwosu

In 2015, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas launched the force’s  strategic directive 2015-1, aimed at providing security in the maritime sector, ensure effective monitoring of the nation’s waterways and sustain its effort to maintain credible presence at sea.

After four years, the Nigerian Navy says it has been able to effectively police the nation’s waterways and ensure that the maritime sector is safe.

According to the Nigerian Navy, it has impounded and destroyed illegally refined crude oil valued at N8.4 billion between January and June 2019. The navy has destroyed and impounded 131,085.06 barrels of crude oil and about 29,612,202 litres of illegally refined products during its anti-crude oil theft campaign. It also destroyed 227 illegal refineries, 2,688 storage facilities, 364 wooden boats and impounded 11 barges and 32 vessels.

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Source: sunnewsonline.com

Oil discovery: Boost security at sea to ward off pirates – Oquaye to Navy

The Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye has charged the Ghana Navy to step up security along Ghana’s coast.

He said Ghana’s oil sites are sea-based, hence exposes the country to various criminal threats. The Speaker cited issues that are associated with the increase in crime on the shores of oil-rich countries.

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Source: ghanaweb.com

Seeking to avoid escalation, ships deploy unarmed guards to navigate Gulf

Persian Gulf/SoH

Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) – Shipping companies are hiring unarmed security guards for voyages through the Middle East Gulf as an extra safeguard after a wave of attacks in the region, security companies involved said.

Relations between Iran and the West are increasingly strained after Britain seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar this month. Britain also said last week that one of its warships had to fend off Iranian vessels seeking to block a UK-owned tanker from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

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Source: reuters.com

Departure of EU naval force risky for coast, report warns

File image of an approach on a dhow

By Samuel Baya

The possible withdrawal of the European Union Naval Force from the Indian Ocean waters has raised the need for other plans to ensure piracy does not rise again in the region, a new maritime report says.

A report by the Intergovernmental Standing Committee on Shipping (ISCOS) says that though piracy has been on the decline, the possibility of a withdrawal of the EU naval force that has been stationed in the Indian Ocean waters for years heralds uncertainty.

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Source: businessdailyafrica.com

U.S. unsure about circumstances of tanker towed to Iran

DUBAI (Reuters) – U.S. officials say they are unsure whether an oil tanker towed into Iranian waters was seized by Iran or rescued after facing mechanical faults as Tehran asserts, creating a mystery at sea at a time of high tension in the Gulf.

The MT Riah disappeared from ship tracking maps when its transponder was switched off in the Strait of Hormuz on July 14. Its last position was off the coast of the Iranian island of Qeshm in the strait.

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Source: reuters.com

Turkish sailors held hostage by armed pirates in Nigeria

A group of 10 Turkish sailors has been kidnapped by pirates off the coast of Nigeria, reportedly for ransom.

The Paksoy-1 was sailing from Cameroon to Ivory Coast when the pirates boarded the ship in the Gulf of Guinea.

It was not carrying freight and eight sailors managed to escape. Turkey says it is working to secure the release of those seized.

The International Maritime Bureau says the Gulf of Guinea is the most dangerous sea in the world for piracy.

Ömer Çelik, spokesman for Turkey’s ruling AK Party, said the ministry was following the case closely and “working on it”.

Numan Paksoy, operations manager at Kadıoğlu Maritime, said about “12 pirates with heavy guns” had attacked the boat.

Crew members hid in a safe room – the citadel – when the pirates boarded the ship, but emerged after “the assailants threatened to burn the ship and kill all of them”, he told the BBC in an emailed statement.

The attackers then picked 10 sailors and let the other eight go, he added.

73% of all sea kidnappings and 92% of hostage-takings occur in the Gulf of Guinea off Nigeria, Guinea, Togo, Benin and Cameroon, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

Recently, the organisation has noted “a welcome and marked decrease” in attacks in the region due to an increase in Nigerian Navy patrols.

Twenty-one incidents have been recorded around Nigeria so far this year, compared to 31 in the same period of 2018.

Source: bbc.co.uk

MV attacked – Gulf of Guinea (July 13th)

Underway Turkish-flagged general cargo ship attacked by five to seven armed men in two skiffs at 2250 UTC in position 02:58N – 004:40E, approx 117nm SW of Brass, Nigeria. Crew attempted to hide as pirates boarded but were threatened when some were caught. Pirates damaged communication and navigation equipment, abducted 10 Turkish national crew before escaping. Eight remaining unharmed crew able to sail vessel to Tema harbour, Ghana. Ghana navy escorted vessel into port. Reported (MDAT/Reuters) 13 Jul. Via OCEANUSLive.org

Image courtesy of OCEANUSLive.org

1 dead, 4 injured in Abu Sayyaf encounter in Basilan — military


Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 14) — An armed militia man was killed while four civilians were wounded in an encounter Sunday in Basilan with unidentified men believed to be Abu Sayyaf group members, the military said.

The Western Mindanao Command reported that at around 8 a.m., a barangay peacekeeping action team outpost at Sitio Bohe Pahut, Barangay Central Sumisip was harassed by reported Abu Sayyaf members under sub-group leader Pasil Bayali.

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Source: cnnphilippines.com

Here’s why West Africa is becoming the world’s piracy hotspot

INEMESIT UDODIONG

West Africa is turning into the world’s piracy hotspot according to One Earth Future, which produces an annual State of Maritime Piracy report.

The newly released 2018 statistics show a decline in the number of incidents of hijacking, kidnapping and robberies in East Africa. West Africa, on the other hand, recorded an alarmingly increase in pirate attacks from 54 incidents in 2015 to 112 in 2018.

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Source: pulse.ng