On June 17, the Nigerian Navy has claimed that it had arrested the owner of the MT DEJIKUN, the ship which was used by pirates four months ago to hijack a Saudi Arabian-owned tanker, MT MAXIMUS, off the coast of Cote D’Ivoire.
MT MAXIMUS, said to have been chartered by a South Korean company, was carrying 4,700 metric tonnes of cargo and was on its way when it was hijacked by nine heavily armed pirates off Cote- D’ivoire waters. The crew members were thereafter held hostage while the name on the ship was deleted and replaced with MT ELVIS-5, apparently to avoid arrest.
The ship was rescued by the Nigerian Navy on Friday, about eleven days after the attack, and six suspected pirates were arrested. One of them was killed in his attempt to fire at naval personnel while two others escaped with two of the crew members on board the hijacked ship.
The Flag Officer Commanding, FOC Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Ferguson Bobai, gave the identity of owner of operational ship by the pirates during the briefing yesterday at the Naval Dockyard, Victoria Island. Documents found inside the ship during the course of the investigation revealed that the owner of the ship is a Nigerian, one Mr Mustapha Gani. According to the FOC, Gani was arrested at the Seme border by personnel of the Forward Operating Base attached to Badagry.
The MT DEJIKUN itself was also recovered, which was abandoned by the fleeing pirates at the Benin Republic. The Benin Republic’s Chief of Naval Staff was attending the Nigerian Navy’s diamond jubilee which assisted in fast tracking the process of towing the ship and bringing it to Nigeria.
The ship will be used as evidence and will be produced as an exhibit during the prosecution of the suspected pirates who have been handed over to the police. Gani is also in custody in Nigeria along with the person who chartered the ship from him.
Further, the two crew members taken hostage by the pirates have also been rescued and handed over to their nations.
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Source: Daily Post Nigeria
