Kidnapped Chinese sailors rescued, brought to Ghana

 The Chinese sailors, who were kid­napped during a pirate attack on a registered Ghana­ian vessel named MENGXIN 1 on sea, have been rescued in Nigeria and conveyed to Ghana.

Again, four suspects, who have been arrested by the police in connection with the case, appeared before the Tema District Court.

Deputy Commissioner of Po­lice (DCOP) Lydia Yaako Donkor, the Director General of the Crimi­nal Investigative Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), disclosed this at a press conference in Accra on Tuesday.

According to DCOP Donkor, the police received a complaint from a fishing company in Tema that its fishing vessel, MENGXIN 1, was attacked by five sea pirates with three of them armed with AK47 riffle, amid firing of gun­shots in Ghana’s territorial waters.

She explained that the sea pirates, who used outboard motors, destroyed the communication systems of the vessel, held the three crew hostage, and abducted them.

DCOP Donkor said that the vessel had returned to the Tema fishing harbour with 21 crew.

She stated that the Marine Po­lice Unit in collaboration with the Ghana Maritime Authority, Ghana Ports and Habour Authority, Na­tional Investigation Bureau, Ghana Navy, investigated the matter.

According to DCOP Donkor, the police, received information that the three sailors had been found in the Delta State, Nigeria, rescued and taken to the Chinese Embassy in Lagos.

 The victims, DCOP Donkor emphasised, were received by the police together with other officials from the Ghana Immigration Ser­vice (GIS), at the Kotoka Interna­tional Airport.

He said although there was no sign of physical harm found on the three victims, they appeared traumatised and needed medical attention.

Moreover, DCOP Donkor disclosed that the victims recount­ed that the pirates kidnapped and blindfolded them with tarpaulin, and travelled with them by sea for about 24 hours to the Delta region of Nigeria.

Additionally, the victims said that the kidnappers conveyed them to a river bank, and they crossed the river by foot, kept at a shift camp and guarded at gun point, and later abandoned.

The Chinese, DCOP Donkor revealed, went to a nearby village and were assisted to make phone calls, which led to the eventual rescue by the Chinese Embassy in Lagos.

 BY CYNTHIA ASAMPANA

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