Gunmen have launched an attack on a tanker ship off the coast of Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta, raiding the vessel and kidnapping five Indian sailors.
The attack targeted the SP Brussels tanker as it sat about 40 miles (64 kilometres) off the coast of Nigeria’s Niger Delta, Medallion Marine said in a statement.
The attack on the tanker came the same day gunmen abducted four South Koreans and a Nigerian working for Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. at a construction site in the Brass area of Bayelsa state.
According to Medallion Marine, the gunmen, stole personal belongings on board the ship in the attack on Monday and kidnapped the sailors.
It said those remaining on board later sailed the vessel safely to a port in Lagos.
Although, the Nigerian Navy officials previously declined to comment about the attack saying they had no information, Medallion Marine claims to have contacted concerned authorities, and assured the general public that everything possible is being done to ensure the safe return of those crew members taken from the vessel.
Unfortunately, Kidnapping has suddenly become a lucrative criminal enterprise worth millions of dollars a year in Nigeria.
Oil workers and other foreign nationals working in the southern region are often targeted because companies will pay high ransom money to secure their employees’ release.
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