On Thursday, the Nigerian Navy handed over nine suspected pirates to the Interpol unit of the Nigeria Police, for allegedly possessing firearms and suspected crude oil within the Nigerian maritime domain. The suspected pirates included three Greeks, an American and five Nigerians.
The video, issued by One Earth Future’s Stable Seas, looks at the criminal activities that have historically taken place in the Gulf of Guinea and the recent strides being made in combating those illegalities. At the centre of efforts, the ‘Yaounde Code of Conduct’ brings together signatory nations from West and Central Africa.
A ceremony took place today in Rota Naval Base, Cadiz, Spain, to mark the relocation of the operation Headquarters of EU NAVFOR Atalanta Operation. The relocation comes in view of Britain’s planned departure from the EU.
Agents from US Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations facilitated the seizure of over three tons of drugs in late March 2019. Namely, a Navy ship discovered 6,100 pounds of marijuana destined for the US, on board a panga-style vessel off the coast of Central America. The US Coast Guard and Navy teams seized the narcotics and sank the vessel as a danger to navigation.
The tanker El Hiblu 1 rescued about 100 migrants on February 27, when three amongst them began to riot and threaten violence when they realized that they were being returned to Libya. The thee teenage migrants have been charged in a court in Malta after hijacking the commercial oil tanker that had rescued them.
With the proliferation of instruments and institutions over the last decade, the time has come to focus on deconflicting and coordinating the various portions of the maritime security architecture around Africa, said Dr. Ian Ralby, the Africa Center’s faculty lead for maritime law and security.
While speaking at the last SAFETY4SEA Conference in Cyprus, Mr. Dimitris Maniatis, Chief Commercial Officer, Diaplous Maritime Services, provided a recap of the current maritime security status, focusing on key high risk areas, such as the Indian Ocean region and West African waters. For the Gulf of Guinea, he stressed, Piracy and Maritime Aggression is never ending.
A total of three incidents of armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia in February 2019, according to ReCAAP ISC’s monthly report. There was a 65% decrease in the number of incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia during January-February 2019 compared to January-February 2018.
US Coast Guard Sector San Francisco members have scheduled to conduct an inter-agency in conjunction with Alcatraz Cruises on February 5 at 5 p.m. In the exercise approximately 50 participants from Neptune Coalition will take place.
Human Rights at Sea published a new briefing note on the ‘Legal and Policy Matters Arising from the Increased Criminalisation of the Civil Society Search and Rescue Activities in the Mediterranean’. This is the second publication on the issue of the increasing levels of criminalisation of civil society search and rescue (SAR) organisations.
