A court in Nigeria completed its first ever convictions using the nation’s new anti-piracy law, and the defendents have been sentenced to a five-figure fine.
Specifically, it is stated that a court in Port Harcourt has fined three men $52,000 each for hijacking a ship in March and securing a ransom of $200,000 for the release of its crew.
To remind, in July nine individuals affiliated with the Lagos branch of a UK-based global security company were charged in connection with the boarding and maritime kidnapping incident aboard the ro/ro ferry Elobey VI.
The men were accused of involvement in a criminal conspiracy that resulted in the abduction of three crewmembers from the vessel off Equatorial Guinea on March 21. The captives were released in mid-May after the payment of a $200,000 ransom.
The director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, Bashir Jamoh, commented: “This will serve as a deterrent to other criminal elements who are still engaged in the nefarious activities on our waterways.”
The anti-piracy law passed by the Eighth National Assembly gives effect to the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982, and the International Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Navigation (SUA), 1988, and its Protocols.
