Photo: AP
Arrested pirates held by Nigerian Navy in Lagos

Nigerian Navy (NN) captures 6 pirates from Nigeria and Ghana who hijacked tanker off the Coast of Cote D’Ivoire

‘recover hijacked Saudi tanker … one pirate killed, 16 of 18 hostages rescued‘

The pirates who had earlier hijacked a Saudi Arabian tanker, MT MAXIMUS. It was learnt that the vessel, which was renamed MT ELVIS-5 by the pirates, was loaded with 4700 metric tons of AGO. The vessel was on chartered by a South Korean company. The pirates were later arrested off the Coast of Sao Tome after a gun exchange with naval forces, that left one of the pirates dead. Two of the pirates escaped from the stolen vessel taking two crew members hostage, a Pakistani and an Indian. The arrested pirates were identified as Captain Mike Ogboroma, Ayo Joshua, Marcus Adesoji, Adeyemi Paul, Oluwafemi Samuel and Collins Friday.

The pirates and their waapons cache

An American vessel that witnessed the hijack radioed the Togolese Navy who notified the Nigerian counterparts which then deployed three naval vessels to the rescue the hijacked tanker. One pirate was killed during the rescue mission as the pirates engaged the Nigerian Navy in a fire fight.

Some of the Pirate were killed in exchange of fire with Nigerian Navy forces

Speaking to journalists, the captain of the oil vessel, Pillai Krishna, said the pirates were highly sophisticated as they came on board with grenades and military grade arsenal.
He said: “It was unexpected and they were obviously prepared for the operation. This is my 10th year as a seaman and I haven’t experienced anything like this before.
“I want to commend the men of the Nigerian Navy. They swore to give their lives for us. But I want to plead that our two colleagues who were taken hostage to be released.”