Ten Nigerians who hijacked a Chinese fishing vessel and kidnapped crew members in May last year have been sentenced to 12 years, the first custodial sentence under an anti-piracy law passed in 2019.
A Federal High Court judge also ordered the guilty men to pay a fine of $600 (£435) and said they were “an embarrassment to the nation” that had “impacted the economy negatively”, the Reuters news agency reports.
In August last year, a court in southern Nigeria made the first convictions under the new anti-piracy law when it fined three men for hijacking a tanker off the coast of Equatorial Guinea and securing a $200,000 ransom for the crew.
The merchant shipping industry has long pressed Nigeria to take action in the seas in the region, which have been dubbed “pirate alley”.
The area accounts for over 90% of maritime kidnappings globally, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
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