The Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has taken over investigations into how a Nigerian ship was hijacked and piloted into Ghana’s territorial waters.
Eight Nigerian high sea robbers were arrested last Saturday by the Eastern Naval Command of the Ghana Navy in Tema, for hijacking a fuel vessel in Nigeria.
The suspects are alleged to have hijacked the ship in Nigeria and demanded a huge ransom.
However, they were arrested by the Ghana Navy upon a tip off as they made their way through the country’s territorial waters.
Eastern Naval Commander, Commodore Steve Darbo told Joy News the suspects will most likely face piracy charges.
“We have finished out part and we have asked our intelligence service in Ghana to take over and conduct further investigation. We are going to follow proceedings, and the law will take its course.”
Meanwhile, a maritime security expert Commander Dr Ali Kamal-Deen warns, prosecuting such cases in Ghana may be difficult.
“The greatest challenge we may have right now is to look at the jurisdictional and legal issues that are involved in prosecuting piracy. Generally in the sub-region and for Ghana also, our legal framework is inadequate in dealing with piracy, and that is one of the areas we have to address.”
According to him, laws regarding piracy – even in developed countries are not clearly defined and this made it difficult to deal with such issues.
“Even for most developed nations until the world was confronted with the piracy issue in Somalia, which was just 2005 many of the laws in many of the states – even in the states you will call developed, the laws were completely obsolete.”
