Nigeria’s navy has recovered a Saudi Arabian oil tanker that had been hijacked on February 18, killing one of the hijackers in a fierce gun-battle and arresting six others.
The tanker, Maximus, had 18 crew members, including 10 Indian sailors, when it was hijacked off Ivory Coast’s waters.
Two of the crew are still missing after they were taken hostage by two pirates who escaped in another vessel. The hostages are believed to be from India and Pakistan.
Bare-chested and handcuffed, the men were paraded in front of local and international media as the Nigerian naval officers described how they stormed the ship on Saturday and arrested the pirates off the coast of Sao Tome and Principe, West Africa.
The suspected hijackers, all Nigerians, were named as Captain Mike Ugborama, Ayo Joshua, Marcus Adesoji, Adeyemi Paul, Oluwafemi Samuel, and Collins Friday.
Among the haul recovered from the ship were AK47s, magazines, bullets, different currencies, satellite phones and even protection charms from local traditional medicine men.
The Indian defence attaché, Capt. Gautam Marwaha, was at the scene to welcome the rescued crew. He told CNN no ransom demand had been received yet for the missing crew members.
No comments:
Post a Comment