For the first time ever, a Ukrainian citizen has been charged with piracy at high seas.
The man has previously demanded a ransom for a hijacked vessel in the Indian Ocean, according to the investigation of the SBU security service.
According to information, the Ukrainian had a job with an international company that had been dealing with the protection of commercial vessels from pirates. However, the man eventually captured the ship.
After negotiations, the Ukrainian surrendered all weapons and released the vessel for about $6,000. However holding the captain at gunpoint, the Ukrainian told the crew about his demands of changing the vessel’s course and providing a ransom of about $500,000.
Furthermore, when the pirate went back to the security enterprise’s offshore base, he had seized the weapons arsenal and demanded $100,000.
After the company refused to give in to the ultimatum, the attacker discharged part of the arsenal before being detained.
The pirate also managed to evade being taken to justice by fleeing to neutral waters, but was later apprehended in Black Sea port city.
The Ukrainian has been charged per the Criminal Code of Ukraine that deals with the use of robbery, violence, and other hostile actions against the crew of a vessel.
In a similar development, nine pirates who attempted to hijack a ship in Togolese waters back in May 2019 have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 to 20 years during a trial at a Lome court.
According to local media sources, this was the first time pirates have been tried in Togo, one of the West African countries with coastline on the Gulf of Guinea, a major trading route which now accounts for most of the world’s abductions of commercial crew by pirates.