Pirates hijack tanker off Nigerian coast

Pirates have hijacked a chemical product tanker and kidnapped the crew off the Nigerian coast, the International Maritime Bureau said on Tuesday, the latest attack in the waters of Africa’s largest crude oil exporter. The attack occurred late Saturday about 90 nautical miles south of the commercial capital Lagos, the IMB said.
The tanker and the crew have been taken to an unknown location. The Nigerian navy said it was investigating but had no further details. The incident was the latest in a string of attacks on ships in the Gulf of Guinea that experts say is threatening an emerging trade hub and growing source of oil, metals and agricultural products to world markets. Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea, which stretches from Guinea to Angola, tend to raid ships for cash and cargo rather than hijacking the crews for ransom like their counterparts off the coast of Somalia.