High-tech hijacking off West Africa
Most attacks in West African waters are part of a long running criminal programme of cargo theft or kidnapping and ransom inside territorial waters, and not piracy says maritime security company GoAGT.
Nick Davis, CEO of GoAGT said: “The growing problem in West Africa is criminality and it is very well organised. Criminal gangs board ships, take them over, and then move them to a safe area where the cargo can be stolen. They then leave.”
Recently the MT Kerala disappeared, its cargo was stolen and then it reappeared. Davis said: “This case of product theft shows one of two distinct threats to maritime security in West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. The other is kidnapping and ransom. Both involve different gangs and groups that vary in nature and modus operandi.
“These criminal organisations are well armed and resourced, with speedboats to approach a target, people capable of operating an attacked vessel and engineers to pump out the product into a bunker barge, which can take between 3,000 and 6,000 tonnes. Each operation is meticulously planned.
“Attacks on tankers in West Africa have shown that there is immense organisation and an extremely good human intelligence matrix behind each ship that was temporarily detained for the illegal transfer of its cargo.”
None of the attacks involving cargo theft is speculative. There is a very well organised machine behind these operations specifically targeting refined products such as marine gas or diesel, which are easy to sell on the black market. Criminals receive details of all ships arriving and the cargo they are carrying to any terminal in the Gulf of Guinea from commercial agents who are put under pressure to disclose information.
If the gangs are low on reserves of a particular product they will go after it. Once they know that a vessel carrying that product will be in transit through the Gulf of Guinea, they will position speedboats well in advance to be ready to intercept it and take it over. They will then make contact with the bunker barge and complete the transfer in 12 to 24 hours.
