Official: Cameroon boat captain seized by pirates
Published 12:01 am Monday, August 29, 2011
DOUALA, Cameroon — A Nigerian Navy spokesman says a boat captain was kidnapped by pirates as the Cameroonian vessel headed to neighboring Nigeria.
Kabir Aliyu says the captain was kidnapped and the boat returned to Cameroon with its crew and passengers on Sunday morning under Nigerian navy escort.
Witnesses say seven armed pirates boarded the ship Saturday. An official from the shipping company says no one was harmed. The official, who asked that his name not be used, says the captain was taken for refusing to pay protection money to the bandits.
Piracy in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea has over the last eight months escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings, cargo thefts and large-scale robberies.
