29 December 2012 - 4 January 2013 (Vol. 2; No.1/13) This Week's Newsletter is kindly sponsored by: Maritime PirateFence - A Unique Protective Solution Ask us how you can be a sponsor of this newsletter in 2013 - click here. Feedback on the newsletter is welcomed too. MV Iceberg 1 Horror Stories & Another Asia Hijack - As the newly liberated crew of Iceberg 1 come to terms with regained freedom and the end of the spectre of abuse, a Puntland court sentences three pirates to 3 to 10 years in prison. Freed Ghanaians intend to sue Iceberg 1 shipping company. The physical and physiological trauma suffered is covered by various media. In Southeast Asia, a tug and barge are hijacked for the fuel and the crews are left marooned before being rescued; the pirates are apprehended 15 hours later and found to have changed the vessels names. Suspect pirates arrested by a Belgian warship, the second instance in two weeks, are set ashore due to lack of evidence. In many ways Nigeria is becoming the new Somalia it is said; the Nigerian Navy calls for the installation of security devices on all vessels, but a marine lawyer says they are "missing a trick," when considering the small tankers used to taken the stolen product. Bayelsa State Police are critical of Hyundai Heavy Industry for paying N30 million ransom for six hostages. Maldives government proposes an anti-piracy bill to curb concerns over territorial security. The Italian marines, having been granted Christmas furlough, are now back in India. Captain of China's escort fleet says, "pirates have finally appeared," as more approaches in the Gulf of Oman and Gulf of Aden occur over the last few weeks. Global money laundering laws should be strengthened to nab kingpins, not just foot soldiers; UNCLOS does not provide procedures and guidelines for international cooperation. The Commander of the Niger Delta JTF reviews the campaign against crude oil theft and the complicity of some foreigners. Following the instances of pirate 'capture and release' and the destruction of their respective skiffs, raises the question of different evidential grounds and standards of proof for prosecution, not to mention the possible liability for any loss or damage caused by such seizures without adequate grounds. MPHRP Chairman warns that industry should continue to boost efforts to counter piracy and armed robbery, whilst the British High Commissioner to Seychelles urges countries to be one step ahead in countering the scourge of piracy. President Michel of the Seychelles meets the islands' People's Defence Forces in a traditional New Year visit, including the Tazar unit created in 2009 as elite force against piracy. Contents: Regional Activity; Released by Pirates; Pirates in Court; Private Security; International Response; Piracy Cost; Seafarers' Plight; And Finally...; Piracy Incidents; Situational Map Ask us how you can be a sponsor of this newsletter - click here. East Africa AUTHORITIES in Somalia's northern autonomous state of Puntland have officially handed over eight former Yemeni hostages rescued by Puntland government forces on Dec. 23, following a raid on the MV Iceberg 1 hijacked vessel that resulted in the rescue of 22 multi-national hostages, Garowe Online reports - AllAfrica. Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, flanked by a number of Puntland ministers and senior military officials, received a diplomatic delegation on Friday in the Puntland port city of Bossaso. The delegation, led by Yemeni Ambassador to Somalia Ahmed Omar, came to Bossaso to attend the official handover ceremony of the eight former hostages of MV Iceberg 1 from Yemen. Puntland government officials, religious clergy, traditional leaders, and commanders of Puntland security forces attended the event held at Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) compound in the western outskirts of Bossaso. PMPF officers presented the 14-day events of the MV Iceberg 1 operation to the visiting dignitaries, with officers lauding the operation strategy designed by the PMPF commanders and the comprehensive intelligence gathered prior to the launching of the successful multi-terrain operation. ON THURSDAY 27 December at 11:30 local time (8:30 Belgian time), the Belgian frigate Louise-Marie again intercepted a skiff and three suspected pirates were arrested -OCEANUSLive. This action, the second arrest in two weeks, took place 400nm off the Somali coast. Aboard the skiff, a small craft with powerful engines, the boarding team found several fuel barrels, but once again no weapons. During the boarding action, a Belgian soldier was accidentally wounded in the leg. He was treated in the infirmary, where all the necessary medical personnel and equipment was available Following review of evidence, the suspects were landed on a Somali beach. Image - Photo: EPA West Africa THE NIGERIAN Navy (NN) has called on the Federal Government to direct the relevant agencies, especially the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), to enforce the installation of latest security devices on all vessels plying Nigerian waters to stem the tide of pirate attacks, writes Udeme Clement - Vanguard Nigeria. The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Amin Ikioda, who was represented by the Command Intelligence Officer, Commander Usman Bugaje, said this, during a paper presentation titled ‘Measures to Check Piracy and other Illegal Activities on Nigerian Waters’ at the sixth Ships & Ports Annual National Essay Competition and prize presentation ceremony in Lagos. He went on: “Government should give attention to the coastal states in the Gulf of Guinea region to develop a robust regional maritime security strategy through capacity building, intelligence sharing and logistic support to enhance sea patrol and surveillance of territorial waters. Image - Nigerian Navy IN MANY ways Nigeria is becoming the new Somalia. Like the Somali al-Shabaab terrorist militia, Nigerian Boko Haram insurgents are unleashing a wave of religiously-motivated violence across the country - The Trumpet. Like the Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, West African pirates are now terrorizing ships off the coasts of Nigeria and across the Gulf of Guinea. Although pirates have been attacking ships in the oil-rich Niger Delta since the 1980s, their attacks have increased in frequency and severity in the last three years. According to Foreign Policy magazine, between January and September of 2012, pirates attacked 42 vessels in the Gulf of Guinea—taking 168 crew members hostage. Just last month, a group of Somali pirates operating off the Nigerian coast looted a German oil tanker, taking five Indian sailors hostage. Analysts are attributing this rise in piracy to the fact that the Nigerian coast is largely unregulated and without an adequate maritime police force. This was not always the case. IN DECEMBER'S final two weeks, pirates raided three ships off Nigeria, a year-end burst of attacks in waters that are beginning to challenge those off Somalia as Africa's most dangerous place to sail - WSJ. On Dec. 17, skiff-borne gunmen climbed the three-story-high hull of a 387-foot oil tanker, ransacking the ship and taking five Indian crew members hostage, the International Maritime Bureau reported, in one of two attacks it recorded for that day. Six days later, machine gunners scaled the hull of an Italian pipe carrier nearby, the bureau said, sailing onward with four kidnapped crew members. [Requires subscription for full article] PERHAPS the understatement of the Christmas period came in a paper by Rear Admiral Amin Ikioda of the Nigerian Navy who said that: “Nigeria waters is [sic] fast becoming very dangerous in terms of piratical violence….” That in the week that BIMCO (in conjunction with ICS, Intertanko, and Intercargo) issued Interim Guidelines for protection against piracy in the Gulf of Guinea which seek to apply the generic principles of BMP4 to West Africa, writes Stephen Askins of Ince & Co. Risk assessments are key and hardening recommended, although there is a recognition that STS operations may make that more difficult. There is also the problem that pirates swarming over the daughter ship to get access to the main target are just about unstoppable. The Guidelines are a welcome initiative and go some way to remove the legal uncertainty as to the extent that BMP presently applies to west Africa. It also resonates with Admiral Ikioda's plea to the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency that they should enforce installation of the “latest security devices” on all vessels in Nigerian waters. He is perhaps missing a trick. Cargo theft in the Gulf of Guinea involves not only men in skiffs but also, critically, small tankers to take the stolen product. These tankers are more often than not registered locally. They are commercial craft with IMO numbers and not part of some shadowy pirate fleet hidden at anchor in small tributaries in the Niger Delta. Nigeria signed up to the LRIT (Long Range Identification and Tracking) system in 2008 and indeed were reported to have tested this extensively during an exercise in 2010. It is meant to identify all vessels in Nigerian waters and take a fix four times a day. Now if that was enforced then cargo theft would be just about impossible. BAYELSA State Police Command is now at loggerheads with Korean construction and engineering giant, Hyundai Heavy Industry over the payment of N30 million as ransom for the release of six management staff of the company - four Korean and two Nigerians by kidnappers in the Niger Delta - This Day Live (Nigeria). The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kingsley Omire, who said police investigation had arrested some suspects prior to the payment of the ransom, said he was angry that the ransom was paid without the consent of the command. The kidnapped Korean workers Joon Suk, Jing Kim, Hi Kim, Doo Lee and Austin Giwa were released on December 21 along Azikoro Creek in Yenagoa Local Government of the state, after the payment.