Nigeria military burns homes after ‘pirates’ kill six

Nigerian soldiers torched more than 20 homes in a community in the oil-rich Niger Delta after “suspected pirates” killed six people, security sources and residents said on Tuesday.

Gunmen on Sunday attacked a gunboat escorting a vessel in the volatile waters off the Nigerian coast, a Nigerian security source told AFP. “During the ensuing gun battle, four of the soldiers and two civilians on board the vessel were killed,” the source said.

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Source: bignewsnetwork.com

Attack on Maersk Tema: Group recommends special security for Niger Delta

Anna Okon

The National Council of Managing Directors of Customs Licensed Agents has called on the Federal Government to set up a special committee made up of professionals to offer advice on maritime security.

The National President, NCMDCLA, Mr Lucky Amiwero, made the call in reaction to an attack on a German container ship, Maersk Tema, off Bonny in Rivers State on Friday.

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Source: punchng.com

Costa Rica makes biggest ever cocaine haul

Police in Costa Rica have made the biggest seizure of illegal drugs in the country’s history – finding more than five tonnes of cocaine in a shipping container.

The drugs were hidden in a consignment of flowers headed for the Netherlands, AFP news agency quoted Interior Minister Michael Soto Rojas as saying.

A suspect has been arrested. Central America is one of the main routes for cartels moving drugs from South America to the US and Europe.

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Source: bbc.com

Pirates attack German container ship off West African coast

Author Silja Fröhlich

A vessel operated by Hamburg-based Bernhard Schulte Ship management was attacked by two speedboats in the Gulf of Guinea on Friday.

The Maersk Tema was attacked by two speedboats off the Nigerian coast, a spokesman for Peter Doehle Schiffart and Bernhard Schulte said. The crew followed emergency procedures, but the spokesman did not say whether the pirates had boarded the ship.

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Source: dw.com

Who Will Help Africa Solve Its Piracy Problem in the Gulf of Guinea?

By Silja Fröhlich

Maritime piracy has increased off the west coast of Africa, in the Gulf of Guinea, despite preventative measures. The issues lie on land rather than at sea. Is it time for the international community to intervene?

Nine out of 10 maritime incidents of piracy and kidnappings for ransom are reported in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, which stretches 5,700 kilometres (3,500 miles) from Senegal to Angola.

As the number of crew members kidnapped by pirates worldwide decreased, the number reported in the Gulf of Guinea increased from 78 in 2018 to 121 in 2019.

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Source: allafrica.com

South Korea: Navy chief to visit unit dispatched to Strait of Hormuz

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Sim Seung-seob will embark on a trip to Oman and Thailand next week and visit an anti-piracy unit deployed to the Strait of Hormuz, the Navy said Friday.

The six-day visit, which will kick off Sunday, is aimed at boosting maritime security cooperation with the two countries and supporting South Korea’s broader pitch to expand exchanges with Southeast Asia, it said.

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Source: koreaherald.com

Maritime Security in the Asia-Pacific: Measuring Challenges and Progress

Only by seeking to measure maritime security dynamics in uniform and rigorous ways can we begin to understand the scope of the challenges and make progress.

By Jay Benson

In the realm of foreign and security policy, the maritime space is often overlooked. “Sea blindness” is real and it is often reflected in the amount of resources and policy attention paid to maritime security and governance around the world. However, as the maritime space gains attention as a theater for nontraditional security challenges and as space of increasingly important economic potential, so too does the need to empirically measure the scope of the challenges and the progress made in the maritime space. There are a plethora of indices, databases, and empirical reporting available on security and governance issues onshore, which contribute greatly to the understanding of policymakers on these phenomena, but the maritime space has yet to see the same application of empirical methods and analysis.

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Source: thediplomat.com

Oil theft: Navy hands over 7 Sri-Lankans, 46 Nigerians, two Ghanians to EFCC

By Evelyn Usman

The Nigerian Navy has handed over seven Sri-Lankas, 46 Nigerians and two Ghanaians who were crew members on board seven vessels that were arrested between December 3, 2019, and December 30, 2019, over alleged illegal bunkering, to the Economics and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC for prosecution.

One of the vessels arrested by operatives of the Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Beecroft, MT ZEEBRUGGE, in which were the Sri-Lankas, sailed all the way from Morocco to Nigeria, to get the product.

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Source: vanguardngr.com

U.S. warship in Arabian Sea seizes suspected Iranian weapons

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. Navy warship seized weapons believed to be of Iranian “design and manufacture,” including 150 anti-tank guided missiles and three Iranian surface-to-air missiles, the American military said on Thursday.

In a statement, the military said the guided-missile cruiser Normandy boarded a dhow, a traditional sailing vessel, in the Arabian Sea on Sunday.

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Source: reuters.com

MarsecNews: USNI has uploaded video of the incident:

Africa’s Maritime Authorities Meet In Accra

The Minister of Transport, Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has urged the Executive Council of the Association of African Maritime Administration (AAMA) to develop measures that will curb the exploitation of Africa’s fishery sector by foreign fishing companies.

He said the exploitation of Africa’s fishery sector by foreign fishing companies was depriving African governments a valuable source of revenue critical to their economic growth.

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Source: peacefmonline.com