Piracy in West Africa: Ghana navy arrests 8 Nigerian high-seas robbers

The Ghanaian Eastern Naval Command has said that it has arrested eight pirates from Nigeria who hijacked an oil vessel over the weekend on the Atlantic Ocean. The vessel flagged-MV Mariam was said to be carrying about 1,500 tonnes of crude oil and was heading towards Nigeria when it was stormed by the pirates.  The vessel is said to belong to a private oil company in Nigeria. The pirates then turned the vessel around and entered the territorial waters of Ghana but a tracking device which had been fixed on the vessel enabled the company operating it to track it down. The company alerted the Ghanaian Naval Command to be on the lookout which led to the arrest when the vessel entered Ghana’s waters about 26 nautical miles.

Ghanaian Navy officials said the pirates had demanded a huge ransom from the owners before the vessel will released. Items retrieved from the pirates include 4 AK47 riffles, 10 magazines, one pump action gun, UHF Radio, mobile phones, digital cameras and thousands of dollars and some Nigerian currency. Crew members on board the vessel are said to be safe and the vessel has been docked at the port city of Tema about 30 kilometers from the national Capital Accra. Piracy on the Atlantic Ocean especially the Western part of Africa known as the Gulf of Guinea has become a problem for International Maritime.

In East Africa, many ships can move past at high speed with armed guards on board to protect crew members but in West Africa, many vessels have to anchor off the West African coastal nations, with little protection, making them a soft target for criminals. The International Maritime Bureau watchdog committee warned last year that all vessels especially those who route through off the West African coast-the Gulf of Guinea to be vigilant since they are at risk of being attacked by pirates.

In 2012, the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Program reported that the number of vessels attacks by West African pirates in the Gulf of Guinea region had reached a world record high with 966 seafarers attacked during the year and by mid-November, 2013 100 new attempted hijacks have been reported, placing the area in second behind Southeast Asia.The Gulf of Guinea region include waters off Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Ghana and stretches as far as to Ivory Coast which is a significant source of cocoa, oil and metals for world markets and pirates use the area for their activities.