KOTA KINABALU: The armed men who abducted three Indonesian fishermen off Lahad Datu, Sabah, two months ago are demanding RM2.45mil for their release. The demand, made through one of the victims via a video recording, was released on Facebook last Saturday.
The three were identified as Maharudin Lunani, 48, his son Muhammad Farhan, 27, and crew member Samiun Maneu, 27. They were abducted by armed men from a Sandakan-registered fishing trawler off Tambisan waters.
A coalition of civil society groups has urged the National Assembly to revisit probe on the ceding of Nigerian Coastal Waterways to a questionable private firm.
In a petition to the lawmakers, the group disclosed that the contract was awarded to HSLI security firm and technologies at the cost of 195 millon dollars. Correspondent Habidah Lawal reports that the 195 million dollars maritime security contract was signed off by the Federal Executive Council in December 2017.
About 11 communities in Burutu and Bomadi council areas of Delta State are reportedly under serious attacks by pirates. The communities, in a save-our-soul message to President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that efforts to get the intervention of the local and state governments, as well as security operatives, have received no response.
According to them, the hoodlums who patrol the creeks daily, have held the communities under siege for over three months, maiming, stealing and raping their women.
THERE is tension in Ekogbene community in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State after suspected pirates and cult gangs blew up a community leader’s home.
The Nation gathered that the attack was to cow the community leadership. A source said no life was lost as the chairman and his family were outside during the attack.
SEOUL/DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement released three vessels and 16 people it had seized, South Korea’s foreign ministry and a Houthi military source in Yemen said on Wednesday.
The seizure on Sunday was the latest incident at sea around Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is leading a Western-backed coalition of Arab states against the Houthis, who control the capital and most population centres and have been accused of attacking shipping.
Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Tuesday flagged off Exercise Crocodile Smile IV with a charge to security agencies to flush pipeline vandals, pirates, kidnappers and armed robbers out of the state.
He declared the exercise open shortly after watching a beach landing and counter terrorism simulation at the Takwa Bay Island in Iru-Victoria Island Local Council Development Area (LCDA).
What Happened: A wave of persistent and sophisticated attacks against Nigeria’s Nembe Creek Trunkline pipeline has severely affected the operating firm’s ability to transport and export oil, according to a company spokesman, Sweet Crude Exports reported Nov. 17. He added that the pipeline has been shut down for 61 days so far in 2019 and that total losses over the year amounted to nearly 2 million barrels of oil.
More military equipment will be deployed in Sulu to help ground forces defeat Abu Sayyaf bandits and neutralize foreign terrorists hiding on the island.
Armed Forces chief Gen. Noel Clement announced during his visit to the Western Mindanao Command last week the acquisition for the Light Armor Battalion of additional C-130s and the arrival of a C295 personnel transport plane, attack helicopters, a Navy warship and armored tanks, which are equipped with sophisticated weapon systems that can hit long-range targets, Lt. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, Westmincom chief, said.
The Bonita had been anchored off Benin for several days, waiting for a berth in the port of Cotonou. On November 2, 2019 the crew had a traumatic awakening. Armed men boarded the vessel and kidnapped nine crew members. Only two days later, four seafarers were kidnapped from the Elka Aristotle, which was anchored off Lomé in neighbouring Togo.
Unfortunately, these were not the only attacks off the coast of West Africa in which seafarers were kidnapped. Nevertheless, the patterns are changing, with gradual signs of improvement. In addition, attacker success rates in the region have declined from 80% over ten years ago to just under 50% in 2018.
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‘Attack’ on ship towing South Korean drilling rig threatens vital shipping routes, Saudi spokesman says.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said Iran-aligned Houthi rebels hijacked a vessel south of the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia‘s state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki as saying on Monday that Houthis seized the ship while it was towing a South Korean oil drilling rig on Sunday.
MaritimeSecurityNews: This is a significant roll of the dice by al Houthi rebels. As war weariness sets in on both sides, it has been suggested that this incident is an attempt by Houthis to show Saudi Arabia how difficult it can still make life for them. South Korean media outlets have suggested that three vessels were hijacked/seized by Houthi rebels and have dispatched their anti-piracy Cheonghae unit to the region, which will focus minds in Yemen, given their reputation.
Maritime security in the Red Sea remains perilous, with Iran reporting attacks which are unverified independently and the ongoing threat posed by Houthi naval mines and SVBIEDs. A persistent threat to a major shipping lane will not go unchallenged by other countries in the region as well as the USA. I hope the al Houthis appreciate just how risky this gamble may prove to be. Image below via OCEANUSLive.org, who carry the initial UKMTO report.
Maritime Security News 