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Robbery common in Nigerian ports

(B2) Thecontainer ship attack off the Nigerian coast is not an isolated act. Acts of piracy or robbery – we are not talking about piracy in territorial waters – are relatively common in this area of ​​the Gulf of Guinea (read: Two incidents off Nigeria).

Nigerian ports are particularly popular with pirates. There are thus three other incidents, according to maritime sources, in the previous eight days.

Three attacks in Nigerian ports

Two thieves in a boat boarded an oil tanker on Saturday (February 1) that anchored in Lagos Cove in Nigeria. They try to seize the duty sailor who is doing a routine round. But he manages to escape. The alarm is given. The thieves flee without asking for their rest and without stealing anything. The Nigerian Navy sends a patrol boat to the scene.

The watchman of an offshore supply vessel berthed in the port of Onne (Nigeria's second main port, near Port Harcourt, bordered by Bonny Island) remarks on Wednesday night (January 29), an unauthorized person on deck. Alarmed and hearing the crew alerted, the person escaped with the vessel's stolen property. The incident was reported to port authorities.

Service crew aboard an oil tanker anchored in Lagos Cove, carrying out ship-to-ship transfer (STS) operations, notice in the early hours of Saturday (25 January) an unauthorized person near the forecastle of 'Before. The alarm is triggered. Seeing the crew alerted, the person jumps overboard and escapes with his accomplices in a wooden boat. A naval patrol vessel arrives on the scene, and begins scouting around the tanker.

Another incident off Benin

About 73 nautical miles south of Cotonou, Benin, on January 19, during the night, two pirates armed with AK47 rifles manage to board a container ship Atlantic Discoverer. They are spotted by the watchman. The alarm is triggered, the deck lights extinguished, the accommodations locked. The engines are revved up and the ship is heading at steady speed towards Tema, Ghana. The Ghana Navy is notified and asked to come aboard to search the vessel upon arrival. The whole crew is safe and sound. Nothing was reported stolen, according to maritime sources.

(NGV)

Read also: Where do our dear sea pirates work? By what methods? When ? All the answers … or almost

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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