Naval News Today
British sailors captured by Iran were in disputed waters: report
Fifteen British troops who were held by Iran for two weeks last year were in disputed waters when they were captured, not in Iraqi waters as the government had publicly claimed, The Times reported Thursday.
Citing documents released by the defence ministry under Freedom of Information laws, the newspaper said the contingent of Britons was captured because the US-led coalition in Iraq had unilaterally designated a maritime boundary for Iraq and Iran without informing the latter.
The 15 sailors and marines were seized on March 23 near the Shatt al-Arab waterway which divides Iran and Iraq, and were released nearly two weeks later.
Last June, a report by the former head of the Royal Marines, Lieutenant General Sir Rob Fulton, found the capture was down to no individual human error, but a series of shortcomings.
Somali Pirates Arrive in Paris After Kidnapping
Six suspected pirates captured by French special forces after the release of a yacht crew kidnapped off Somalia arrived in Paris Wednesday where justice officials hope to put them on trial.
The six were captured Friday after the release of the 30 hostages — 22 French, six Filipinos, a Cameroonian and a Ukrainian — abducted a week earlier aboard the French luxury yacht Le Ponant.
The suspects, believed to be Somali fishermen, arrived on board a military transport plane at dawn at Le Bourget airport and were taken to a detention centre in the French capital.
French authorities have said they hope to put the six suspects on trial on charges of “organised criminality” for hijacking the yacht and taking hostages with the intention of securing a ransom. The men face life in prison.
But the possibility of them being tried in France is expected to cause a “number of problems,” a source close to the case told AFP. The yacht was boarded in international waters, taken to Somalia’s territorial waters and the kidnappers later captured on Somali soil.
Nigeria overtakes Indonesia in piracy
Pirate attacks rose worldwide in the first quarter of the year, with Nigeria overtaking Indonesia as the country worst plagued by sea bandits, a global maritime watchdog said Wednesday.
Seafarers suffered 49 attacks between January and March around the world, up 20 percent from the 41 in the same period last year, the International Maritime Bureau said in a report by its piracy reporting center in Malaysia.
Nigeria ranked as the No. 1 hotspot amid a lack of effective law enforcement, with its 10 reported attacks — mostly off its main city of Lagos — accounting for one-fifth of the global total, the London-based bureau said.
Myriad armed groups roam the Niger Delta, where violence has slashed oil production and helped propel oil prices to new highs. Nigeria produces about 2.1 million barrels of oil a day, the largest output in Africa.
“Violence in the waters off Nigeria is spiraling out of control,” the report said, adding that the true number of incidents could be even higher because many attacks in the oil sector are believed to go unreported.
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Bio: I am currently a Professor of Security Studies, hold a BS in Management and an MA in National Security Studies, and am pursuing an MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology. I've written for Navy Times, Proceedings, Armed Forces Journal and a number of blogs. As a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and Navy Reserve, I attained the rank of Commander, deployed five times for four different conflicts and served as a Foreign Area Officer and a Surface Warfare Officer. During my 7 years in the private sector, I worked in the fields of information technology and publishing, and even ran for public office once.
