Lowlife pirates steal another tanker, hold hostages.

[powderman]

Pirates seize oil tanker, kidnap crew off Nigeria  Published September 05, 2012
Associated Press    LAGOS, Nigeria –  Pirates attacked and seized an oil tanker off the coast of Nigeria's largest city, the country's navy said Wednesday, kidnapping an unknown number of sailors who were trying to hide from their assailants.
 
The pirates targeted the MT Abu Dhabi Star, which was anchored 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Lagos, the country's biggest port, said Commodore Kabir Aliyu, a spokesman for Nigeria's navy. The sailors onboard sent distress signals as the pirates boarded the ship Tuesday night, with their last message indicating they had locked themselves inside a panic room on the vessel, Aliyu said.
 
The oil tanker, flagged out of Singapore, is operated by Pioneer Ship Management Services LLC, a company with offices in Dubai. The company said in a statement that it lost radio contact with the tanker on Wednesday.
 
"Pioneer have since received contact from the crew onboard the vessel and can confirm that all crew members are currently reported to be safe and uninjured, but that the vessel has been boarded by suspected pirates," the statement read.
 
Pioneer said it had not received any ransom demands for its crew. The company did not say how many sailors were onboard the vessel nor did it give their nationalities.
 
The attack mirrored two others carried out in recent days in waters off the coast of Togo. In both of those cases, the crew were released unharmed after pirates ransacked the vessels and stole the gasoline or oil onboard the ship, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy across the world.
 
Pirate attacks are on the rise in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, which follows the continent's southward curve from Liberia to Gabon. Over the last year and a half, piracy there has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts. Last year, London-based Lloyd's Market Association -- an umbrella group of insurers -- listed Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia, where two decades of war and anarchy have allowed piracy to flourish.
 
Pirates in West Africa have been more willing to use violence in their robberies, as they target the cargo, not the crew for ransom as is the case off Somalia. Experts say many of the pirates come from Nigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminality to thrive.
Analysts believe the recent hijackings of tanker ships may well be the work of a single, sophisticated criminal gang with knowledge of the oil industry and oil tankers. Those involved in the hijackings may have gotten that experience in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta, where thieves tap pipelines running through the swamps to steal hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/09/05/pirates-seize-oil-tanker-kidnap-crew-off-nigeria/?test=latestnews#ixzz25bOZoOX7

[powderman]

Nigeria navy retakes hijacked oil tanker off coast  Published September 05, 2012
Associated Press    LAGOS, Nigeria –  Nigeria's navy on Wednesday retook an oil tanker hijacked off the country's largest city, freeing 23 Indian sailors held hostage by pirates who fled as the navy arrived, a spokesman said.
 
None of the sailors was hurt in the hijacking of the MT Abu Dhabi Star, which happened off the coast of Lagos, said Pat Adamson, a spokesman for Dubai-based Pioneer Ship Management Services LLC. The Nigerian navy was providing an escort for the vessel Wednesday afternoon to make sure it arrived safely at Lagos' busy port, Commodore Kabir Aliyu said.
 
The pirates who took over the vessel fled when they saw the Nigerian naval ship on the horizon, Adamson said. It was unclear whether they stole any of the ship's cargo, though the crew had begun an inspection of the ship, the spokesman said.
 
The pirates targeted the ship as it was anchored off the coast Tuesday night, Aliyu said. The sailors onboard sent distress signals as the pirates boarded the Singapore-flagged ship, with their last message indicating they had locked themselves inside a panic room on the vessel, Aliyu said.
 
During the short hijacking, the ship's management received no ransom demands for the crew, Pioneer Ship Management Services said. That's not unusual, as pirates in the region increasingly target oil tankers for their cargos, holding control of the vessels only long enough to offload the fuel before escaping. That's in contrast to pirates off the Somali coast, who typically hold sailors for months for ransom.
 
Pirate attacks are on the rise in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, which follows the continent's southward curve from Liberia to Gabon. Over the last year and a half, piracy there has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts. Last year, London-based Lloyd's Market Association -- an umbrella group of insurers -- listed Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia, where two decades of war and anarchy have allowed piracy to flourish.
 
Pirates in West Africa have been more willing to use violence in their robberies, as they target the cargo, not the crew for ransom as is the case off Somalia. Experts say many of the pirates come from Nigeria, where corrupt law enforcement allows criminality to thrive.
 
Analysts believe the recent hijackings of tanker ships may well be the work of a single, sophisticated criminal gang with knowledge of the oil industry and oil tankers. Those involved in the hijackings may have gotten that experience in Nigeria's southern Niger Delta, where thieves tap pipelines running through the swamps to steal hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil a day.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/09/05/pirates-seize-oil-tanker-kidnap-crew-off-nigeria/?test=latestnews#ixzz25dt3LMqa

[Lon371]

Sounds like it is time for booby traps and armed guards. Any caught alive wound and throw over!!
 
Lonny

[P.A. Myers]

A couple of los angeles class subs could end all this. I dont understand why this is tolerated. Cheaper to ignore I guess

[guzzijohn]

Quote from P.A.Myers:
"A couple of los angeles class subs could end all this. I dont understand why this is tolerated. Cheaper to ignore I guess"


I think one would be more than up to the task.
GuzziJohn

[Conan The Librarian]

GuzziJohn, even one diesel sub deployed randomly a few days per month would stop this. But that's not the way things work. If the US gets involved, all fleets will be directed to these waters, and no fewer than 130,000 ground troops will be there. 250 sorties per day for fighter bomber flights. Marines. Special forces. The works. Probably an escalation after the first few weeks. It will also trigger the redesign of all small arms and camouflage to meet the needs of the new situation, infantry packs will increase by another ten pounds in weight. Total budget for the first ten years will be 30 billion dollars, it will be consistently over budget by a factor of 1000, and US 4500 soldiers will be killed or wounded every year.
 
Think about it, your scenario is a lot more far fetched than mine.

[guzzijohn]

Conan is probably correct on this.
GuzziJohn

[Sourdough]

A drone or two could also stop this, with a lot less expenditure. 

[Conan The Librarian]

Sourdough:
 
My scenario assumed that those things were the support for the drone. Without the drone, we need to return to the draft and make it a multinational UN effort.