Docking Chinese ship attacked by armed robbers in Lagos

FOUR armed robbers recently attacked a Chinese geared 156-metre long cargo ship, the Feng Shun Shan, docking at berth 9 of the Lagos Port Complex as it was docking, reported Xinhua.

"About 2200 hours, four armed men came with a speed boat and used their rope to come on board the vessel," said the deputy general manager of GMT Shipping Nigeria Babatunde Joseph to Xinhua.

Mr Joseph said the robbers were confronted with the Chinese Commissar duty officer and one of the crewmembers on board. The robbers did not shoot lest they drew attention, but the duty officer was badly beaten and taken to a hospital in Lagos. Eventually, the robbers failed to enter the residential area of the vessel, yet they made their getaway with a walkie talkie, one mobile phone and some cabin keys of the vessel.

In response to this kind of incident, Nigerian Transport Minister Yusuf Suleiman said in the World Maritime Day at Lagos the most serious concern was the piracy attacks in waters off the coast of Somalia and Indian Ocean, noting that the Nigerian government would combat them with relevant policies and programmes. These include setting up an integrated maritime security and surveillance centre and the long range identification and tracking system.

Relevant maritime agencies under the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Transport has also worked with the Nigerian navy and marine police to prevent the crimes in the nation's territorial waters, he added.
(Source:www.schednet.com)