How Nigerian Navy outsmarted pirates

By DENNIS OKOSUN

FACED with imminent death especially with a gun on the head would make anybody to quiver. When Captain Pillai Krishna was confronted with such circumstance recently when his ship, MT Maximus was hijacked by pirates off the Coast of Cote d’Ivorie as he sailed towards Sao Tome and Principe, what ran through his mind was the end has come.
Fortunately, death was averted as men of the Nigerian Navy Ship Okpabana complemented by NNS Sagbama and NNS Centenary blighted life out of one of the pirates and arrested six others after a gun duel on board the hijacked ship.

Standing transfixed for some moments unable to utter a word, when Krishna eventually spoke, said it was a “bad experience” but appealed to the relevant authorities to “look for my two hostages. We pray that they get back my brothers,” the two abducted crew members taken away by the marauding pirates. Captain Pillai said the Saudi Arabian ship was hijacked by 16 pirates off the Coast of Cote d Ivorie, Abidjan but the prompt response to a distress call by the Nigerian Navy saved their lives from the pirates who had successfully hijacked the ship and changed her name to: MT Elvis.

The criminals mainly Ghanaian and Nigerian nationals had engaged naval personnel who stormed the ship on rescue mission on a gun duel but killed one of the pirates in the process.

The hijackers who were looking like castrated capons and remained speechless when they were paraded at the Naval Dockyard by the Chief of Training and Operations (CTOP) Rear Admiral Henry Babalola gave their names as: Captain Mike Ogborama, Ayo Joshua, Marcus Adesoji, Adeyemi Paul, Oluwafemi Samuel and Collins Friday.

The South Korean hired ship with 4,700 metric tonnes of AGO was hijacked on the 11th February and rescued on Saturday, 20th February, 2016. Recovered from them were 2 AK 47 rifles, one pump action gun, six magazines, 10 phones, eight Sim cards of different network, one Walkie-talkie, six live cartridges, two Turaya phones, two back pack bags, assorted currencies, different charms and over 20 international passports.

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NNS Okpabana, NNS Sagbama with NNS CENTENNARY on standby carried out the rescue operation. It was gathered that the acquisition of more scientific way of monitoring maritime environment and the cooperation from other West African navies enhanced the rescue operation.

The CTOP added that while carrying out the operation, they were mindful with the use of arms considering that the ship was carrying combustible product. “When we got on board the hijacked ship, the pirates hid themselves in the engine room. We had to be patient while we ordered the engine switched off. We were able to arrest seven of them,” he added.

Captain E.O Ferriera, Commander, NNS Okpabana, said they had to take the risk of boarding the hijacked ship despite the criminals being armed to the teeth because they had a duty to save life of the crew. On his part, the Indian Defence Attache to Nigeria, Captain Gautam Marwaha salute the courage of the NN for the rescue operation but added that the rescue was just beginning as the two abducted crew members have not been rescued.

It would be recalled that Nigerian Navy recently foiled an attempt by suspected sea pirates to hijack and abduct 25 foreign nationals aboard a Maersk merchant ship carrying general cargo to Nigeria. Safmarine Kuramo was on January 5th at about 08:00 hours; attacked by sea pirates about 60 nautical miles off the coast of Bonny Island (in Rivers) Fairway Bouy while transporting general cargo from Port-Noire, Congo, to Onne Sea Port in Rivers.