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Wednesday, April 13, 2016
The Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) confirmed that the MT Sampatiki was hijacked at Escravos in the Delta state. The MT Sampatiki is a chemical tanker, flagged out of Liberia. The vessel had five crew members on it when the attack occurred.
The vessel was reported to have arrived in Port Harcourt on March 21heavily loaded with gas oil and was allowed to sail out of the port on March 24. The Nigerian government was not informed of the hijacking until March 26.
NIMASA was tasked by the Ministry of Transportation to investigate the incidence with a view toward rescuing the abducted crew and recovering the vessel. The Nigerian Navy was also alerted and a request for the deployment of the personnel and vessels to search the crew and the vessel was made.
According to various reports out of Nigeria and Togo, the vessel was boarded by Togolese authorities who reportedly wanted to interview the crew members who were left onboard. According to a statement obtained by ThisDay, NIMASA contacted the Maritime Administrations of Benin and Togo to ensure safe return of the vessel and release of the abducted crew.
“The Interpol Regional Bureau and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have also been contacted to reach their respective bureaus in Togo with any useful information that may lead to the rescue of the vessel and crew,” the statement added. “Our collaboration with some arms of the Nigerian military has been most useful. We have commenced the process of reviewing our Memorandum of Understanding with the Nigerian Navy and the Nigerian Air Force respectively for continued coastal patrol and air surveillance to deter criminals and ensure quicker response time when incidents do occur.”
“Let no man be in doubt at all that as a nation, as NIMASA, working with the Nigerian Navy, we do not lack the capacity to maintain security on our territorial waters. In fact, we would not rest until we reed our waters of all form of criminality, that is our commitment and there is no going back on that,” Peterside was quoted to have said in the statement.
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