Gulf of Guinea Piracy: Product Tanker Hijacked and Cargo Stolen, but Ghana Arrests 8 Pirates

Report from Live Piracy and Armed Robbery Report 2015

Location detail: Around 63nm SW off Bayelsa, Nigeria
Type of Attack: Hijacked
Narrations:
11.01.2015: 0500 LT: Posn: 03:44N – 004:59E, Around 63nm SW of Bayelsa, Nigeria.
Ten pirates armed with AK47 rifles boarded and hijacked a product tanker and took hostage all nine crew. They transferred the fuel oil cargo to another vessel and two pirates departed with that vessel. The Ghanaian navy dispatched a naval vessel to investigate as the vessel moved into its waters. The naval boarding team arrested the remaining eight pirates. During the incident the crew were mistreated by the pirates.

Emphasis added.

GNS Blika

More from Graphic Online Ghana Navy arrest 8 Nigerian pirates, frees seized ship:

The Ghana Navy on Saturday foiled a pirate attack on a Nigerian cargo vessel, MT Mariam and captured all eight bandits.

The pirates were armed but no one, including a nine-member crew aboard MT Mariam, was injured when the Ghana Navy crew aboard GNS BLIKA effected the arrest.

According to the Public Relations Officer of the 1 Garrison of the Ghana Armed Forces, Lt Maxwell Asola, all eight pirates are Nigerians.
***Lt. Maxwell Asola told the Daily Graphic that the arrest took place at about 10:30am and that the owner of the vessel in lodging the complaint, said the pirates told him via telephone that they wanted to use the vessel to carry out an attack and banged the phone.

This prompted the owner of MV Mariam to approach the Ghana Navy for assistance.