• Recovers N91Million Ransom
A significant in-road was made last week into government’s efforts aimed at stemming the tide of renewed spate of sea robberies in Nigeria as security operatives nabbed one suspected member of a sea robbery and kidnapping gang in Rivers state. His identity was given as Osaki Emine.
The feat was recorded by operatives of the State Security Service in Rivers State who had been on the trail of kidnappers of the captain and another crew of a ship; MV UAL Tycoon.
The identities of the abducted sailors; both Russians, were given last week as Ivanoc Igov and Pukky Andrey, a captain and chief officer respectively of cargo vessel who were kidnapped on August 11, about five nautical miles off Bonny Fairway Buoy.
Giving further insight into the travails of the Russian sailors, the Director of SSS in Rivers State, Mr. Douglas Dogo, said that the Russians were kidnapped by 15 gunmen off their vessel which had sailed from Cameroun to Nigeria. He said the gunmen were led by an unrepentant militant, Sotonye Kaneji Ikiba aka Obeys.
The SSS boss disclosed further that the same militant was responsible for the kidnap of 12 Germans on board another ship; MV BBC Polonia on July 2, 2010. The Germans were freed after payment of undisclosed ransom.
He added that the kidnappers of the two Russian sailors had equally demanded for a ransom of $60,000.
According to the SSS Director, "on 11th August, 2010, at about 5 nautical miles from Bonny fairway Buoy (FWB), two Russian nationals namely: Ivanoc Igov and Pukki Andrey, the captain and Chief Officer respectively of a container vessel UAL Tycoon enroute Onne seaport from Duala, were abducted by 15 armed gang led by Sotonye Kaneji Ikiba aka Obeys.
"That the militant leader had taken the hostages to his camp at Bokokiri and had nominated one Osaki Emine to serve as his contact man with the parent company of the victims;
"The Rivers State Command of State security Service on 26th August, 2010, arrested the contact man Emine aka Onengie-Ofori Fubara at No. 14 Isi road, Iwofe road, Port Harcourt, following information that he has received ransom on behalf of a notorious militant leader; Obeys who abducted the foreign nationals; "On 30th August, 2010, the Command operatives executed a search warrant at the residence of Emine where the sum of sixty thousand dollars ($60, 000) was recovered being the ransom subject received on behalf of Obeys.
"The Command mounted pressure on Obeys through Farah Dagogo, his erstwhile boss and, subsequently, Obeys yielded to the pressure and released the Russians to the service operatives at Elem Oprama, Asari-Toru local government area, with Joint Task Force gunboats back-up," the SSS director said.
Shipping Position Weekly had reported exclusively in its Volume 3, Number 40 Edition that sea robbers had attacked ships at the Fair Way Buoy and that a number of sailors aboard the ships were abducted.
The attack on MV BBC Polonia was the most pronounced and the only one that was reported to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) global piracy reporting centre.
In response to a mail that was sent to it by Shipping Position Weekly, the IMB had given details of the first attack as having taken place at “1636 UTC, Position: 04:05N – 006:45E, 2.5 nm off Bonny River Fairway Buoy”.
The global piracy reporting agency had also given a more vivid account of the attack on MV BBC Polonia in its reply to Shipping Position Weekly that “seven pirates armed with machine guns boarded a landing craft vessel underway. Master and C/O remained on the bridge and all the other crewmembers were instructed to lock themselves in a safe compartment. After a few hours when the crew came out of hiding, they found the bridge unmanned. The pirates had kidnapped the Master and C/O to an unknown location. C/E informed the owners and managers. Agents reported the incident to the local authorities”.
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