Eight Nigerian pirates have been arrested by the Eastern Naval Command in Tema for hijacking an oil vessel in Nigeria.
The vessel, MV Mariam, was carrying about 1,500 tonnes of crude oil at the time the pirates hijacked it.
The pirates are reported to have turned the vessel around and entered the territorial waters of Ghana but a tracking device which had been fixed on the vessel enabled the owner to track it down.
The owner of the vessel, one Mr. Sunday said his offshore company alerted the Ghanaian Navy Command to be on the look out for the robbers.
Narrating the incident to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of the Eastern Naval Command, Lt, Maxewell Asola said a report was received by the owner of the hijacked tanker that his vessel had been hijacked on the high seas of Nigeria.
According to the owner, the hijackers were demanding a huge ransom before the vessel will be released.
Lt, Asola added that upon receiving the information, a signal was received that the tanker was heading towards Ghana waters.
An alert was then sent to the personnel of the Eastern Naval Command who were then on patrol.
Soon after, the hijacked vessel was spotted 26 nautical miles off shore Ghana waters and the Ghana Navy upon capturing the vessel arrested eight pirates who were all Nigerians.
They also found 4 AK47 rifles, 10 magazines with one pump action gun, UHF Radio, mobile phones, digital cameras and thousands of dollars and Naira.
The pirates are to be handed over to the Tema Police Command for further investigations to be conducted and arraigned.
However, all nine crew members on board the vessel are safe and MV Mariam has safely docked at the Tema port.
By: Elvis Washington/citifmonline.com/Ghana