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/ 20 May 2008

Nigeria becomes world piracy hot spot

Nigeria has become the world piracy ”hot spot”, with its prized oil industry a particular target, and the raiders have exposed flaws in the country’s security. Despite the massive revenues earned from oil, officials concede Nigeria is ill-equipped to combat pirates who ply the seas with speed boats, modern machine guns and radios.

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/ 17 April 2008

Nigeria named number-one piracy hot spot

An international piracy watchdog on Thursday announced an increase in pirate attacks in global waters and warned seafarers of increasing, violence especially in waters off Nigeria. The London-based International Maritime Bureau (said that worldwide piracy attacks jumped to 49 incidents from January to March this year.

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/ 22 October 2007

Somali pirates seize cargo ship

Somali pirates have seized a cargo ship off the East African coast, the head of a local seafarers’ association said on Monday. Gunmen attacked the vessel last Wednesday, said Andrew Mwangura, the programme coordinator of the East Africa Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, but due to chaotic communications with Somalia the incident had taken several days to confirm.

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/ 17 October 2007

Piracy on the rise off Somalia

Piracy off Somalia is on the rise because an Islamic group that had cracked down on pirates was ousted, an official who tracks piracy cases off Africa’s side of the Indian Ocean said. Earlier, an international watchdog reported maritime pirate attacks worldwide had shot up 14% in the first nine months of 2007.