The Nigerian army said that it freed, yesterday, Saturday, 6 Chinese, 3 Indonesians, one Gabonese, and 4 Nigerians, from the crew of a fishing boat seized by pirates off the coast of Gabon in early February.”The ten foreign men were kidnapped off the coast of Gabon on the seventh of last February, and taken to the Nigerian coast,” Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Yahya told AFP.
Muhammad Yahya indicated that a ransom of $ 300,000 was paid before the Nigerian army arrived to enforce the abductees, pointing out that after this ransom was paid, and while the hostages were emerging from the bushes where they were being held in southeastern Nigeria, “The Nigerian army received information regarding a possible new kidnapping. This prompted the “army and pro-government forces to take the decision to intervene to save them.”
It should be noted that the pirates were on speed boats, and boarded the Chinese fishing vessel “Lianbengyu 809”, which flies the Gabon flag off Port Gentil in Gabon, while the pirates who were on board the ship with its crew were spotted about 110 kilometers away from the island. Pune, Nigeria, a few days after the attack, where the advisory group specialized in maritime security, “Dry Global”, confirmed that the pirates were using this ship as a springboard to attack oil tankers in the region.
More than 1,500 ships pass daily on the sea route adjacent to the two largest oil-producing countries in Africa, Nigeria and Angola, and about fifty ships belonging to the Maersk group take it regularly.
Source: “France Press”