Piracy warning ahead of Nigeria election

Analysts all predicting sharp rise in attacks. 

Piracy expected to increase ahead of Nigeria’s election

By Ole Mikkelsen

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Piracy will increase in the Gulf of Guinea as Nigeria prepares for an election next February in order to funnel ransom money into campaign financing, intelligence experts told a shipping conference in Copenhagen on Tuesday.

Risk Intelligence, which advises private shipping companies and governments on security, said two “mother ships” belonging to pirates are currently located just south of Nigeria and five seafarers are know to be held hostage onshore.

“Ahead of general elections, kidnap-for-ransom and attacks on offshore targets increase,” Managing Director Hans Tino Hansen told Reuters at a special session on maritime crime and the effects on growth and development in Africa.

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Source: uk.news.yahoo.com