Nigerian Navy
As part of its mission to secure the coastal waters of the world’s piracy capital, the Nigerian Navy recently intercepted a small craft and arrested its occupants for a criminal offense: providing security services to a merchant ship.
According to a spokesman for the Nigerian Navy, the service received a tip that the “rogue vessel” Workhorse was providing an escort to a oil tanker, the Osamewe. The naval base NNS Pathfinder deployed a gunboat crew to Bonny Anchorage to intercept the Workhorse. Upon arrival, the Nigerian Navy boat crew determined that the seven civilian-clothed crewmembers on board Workhorse could not “provide the appropriate permit” to operate as a security vessel, and the team arrested them.
Having concluded its interdiction and investigation, the Nigerian Navy handed over the suspects to the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps for further processing. “We will immediately launch a credible investigation for possible prosecution of the suspects and any other culprits involved with the case,” said Abdullahi Umar, Assistant Commandant of the NSCDC for Rivers state, in a statement to local media.
The Osamewe has no record in Equasis or in commercial AIS databases.
