Six crew members have been released by pirates following their kidnapping from a general cargo ship on 30 June off West Africa.
This is according to reports received by security company Ambrey, which had no further information.
Ambrey said: “Since this case has now been concluded, there is an increased threat of kidnap for ransom against merchant vessels from West African criminal syndicates.”
The six were abducted from the Republic of Congo-controlled 1,300-dwt Oya 1 (built 1986) at an anchorage off Doula in Cameroon.
The ship had also suffered a similar attack six years previously.
The vessel is owned by Ocean Express of Pointe Noire, which has not commented.
Ambrey said the Oya 1 had a 1.84-metre freeboard at the time of the incident.
The company observed two Cameroonian military vessels responding to the incident, arriving at the scene within minutes. They left a little over an hour later.
Three days before the kidnapping, shipowners were alerted to an increased threat of pirate attacks off West Africa.
Ambrey said it had corroborated a message sent between the navies operating in the Gulf of Guinea.
2017 attack
In it, the navies assessed there was a credible threat and risk to merchant vessels, especially those transiting waters off Nigeria, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
The ship was also targeted by pirates in August 2017.
The Oya 1 was off Nigeria at that time.
Five crew members were abducted after the ship had left Takoradi in Ghana for Bonny.
Two officers — Ahmed Janani and Abdelkader Benhala — were among those taken.
The Panama-flagged Oya 1 had arrived from Luanda in Angola before the June attack.
The ship was about one nautical mile (1.8 km) off the port when it was boarded, and had been anchored there since the previous day.
