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Two Koreans aboard a Ghanaian-flagged tuna vessel, AP 703, were kidnapped while sailing 110 nautical miles south of Keta within Ghana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The incident, which occurred around 7:35 a.m. on August 28, 2020, saw the pirates abandon ship and their remaining Ghanaian crew in Togolese waters and left with their captives, consisting of the ship’s captain and the chief engineer.
Attack
A source told the Daily Graphic that the pirates, numbering about eight, boarded the vessel using a speedboat, hijacked it, and took control.
They then moved the ship some 106 nautical miles across the border to the Togo EEZ, where they took the two Koreans, leaving the remaining Ghanaian crew.
He said the Ghanaian crew withdrew to Ghanaian waters, where Ghanaian Navy officers seized the ship and sent it to the Tema fishing port.
Second incident
The incident is the second in three months after a similar one saw five Koreans and some Ghanaian crew members abducted aboard a Panofi Frontier ship in waters off Beninois on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, and the victims were released ago almost three weeks.
Deployment
According to the source, the pirates are believed to have taken the two hostages to the Niger Delta in southern Nigeria.
The ship’s owners, BSK Marine, and the Korean Embassy in Ghana are making frantic efforts to negotiate the release of the two victims.
The Daily Graphic was informed that deployments had been made within the maritime borders of Beninois and Nigeria to facilitate the rescue of the victims.
“The Navy has tasked all forward operating bases to conduct a coastal patrol to locate the pirates and kidnapped crew, while another ship has been dispatched to conduct a search with the Benin Navy ship along the border between Nigeria and Benin “, a wireless security message was seen by the Daily Graphic read.
The crimes officer of the Marine Police Unit in the port of Tema, Superintendent Mr. Felix Asare, confirmed the incident and said that the unit was working with other agencies and the Korean embassy for the safe release of the victims.
Concerns
The Executive Director of the Fisheries Commission, Mr. Michael Arthur Dadzie, described the incident as one of national security that must be taken seriously and addressed.
He told the Daily Graphic that the tuna sector produces about 70,000 tonnes a year, generating more than $ 350 billion annually for the economy.
“However, uncertainties about security issues are causing Koreans, who are the main players in the sector, to withdraw from investing more, and the implications could be serious if these security challenges are not addressed,” he said.
He was also concerned that while the COVID-19 pandemic had affected the sector significantly, the current situation could cause further decline if foreign partners withdraw their expertise and investments.
Transcendence
A maritime security expert, Dr. Ali Kamal-Deen, sharing his opinion on the latest development, said that while the incident might not be an isolated case, judging by similar attacks from 2018 to June 2020, it was necessary that Ghana had a high level of knowledge of the maritime domain through surveillance, receiving reports from ships and other vessels at sea and, more importantly, a legal system that can adequately treat pirates when detained .
“There are open sources of tracking vessels, just like airplanes, but the question is: are these gangs only using open source information or are they using superior intelligence that is available to them?” I ask.
Legal regimes
Dr. Kamal-Deen also said that in most attacks, pirates often attacked based on the availability of foreign crew on the ships.
“The more foreign crew available on the ship, the more susceptible it will be to attack, as that is the dynamics of the demand for rescue,” he said.
He regretted Ghana’s legal regime when it came to handling piracy cases every time they occurred.
“The type of piracy facing the world today is very sophisticated and there are no provisions for it in our laws,” he said.
“The law is a great deterrent to crime and when criminals know that they can be prosecuted without delay, it is unlikely that they will perpetrate their activities, or even if they do, they will know that the law will deal with them,” he explained.
Petition
Meanwhile, the Ghana Tuna Association, in a petition to the president and some relevant bodies, has expressed concern about the incident.
The petition, signed by the association’s secretary, Mr. Richster Amarh Amarfio, said the practice, if left unaddressed, could incentivize particularly unemployed youth to do the same, especially as oil exploration and production activities The country’s oil continue to rise.
Source: graphiconline.com
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