The Ghanaian Navy has arrested eight Nigerians for allegedly hijacking a fuel vessel off Nigerian waters.
The pirates were arrested at about 10.30 am by the Eastern Naval Command of the Ghanaian Navy after getting an alert from the owner of the stolen vessel, Mr Sunday.
According to reports by the Ghanian Navy, the vessel, a MV Mariam was carrying about 1500 tonnes of crude oil at the time of the pirates’ attack.
The suspects were reported to have turned and entered the territorial waters of Ghana, but the tracking device installed on the vessel alerted the Navy of their position.
Mr Sunday and his offshore company alerted the Ghanaian Naval Command about the pirates attack, which led to the arrest of the suspects and the vessel at Tema.
The arrest was confirmed by Lieutenant Maxwell Asola, the Public Relations Officer of the Eastern Naval Command of the Ghanaian Navy, who said the Command received an alert from the owner of the vessel intimating it of the hijack of the vessel on the Nigerian high seas.
According to him, the suspects had demanded a huge amount of money as ransom before the vessel could be released. Asola recounted details leading to the arrest of the suspects, he said that after receiving the information, an alert was then sent to the personnel of the Eastern Naval Command, who were patrolling the area, adding that the hijacked vessel was spotted 26 nautical miles offshore of Ghana waters.
Thereafter the vessel was captured and eight persons, all Nigerians aboard were arrested.