Sunday, January 31, 2010

Hijacked Cambodian cargo ship no pirate attack: official

January 31, 2010
Source: Xinhua

A hijacked Cambodian cargo ship is being held off Somalia's Berbera port by businessmen owing to a deal which has gone sour and not pirate attack, a regional maritime official confirmed on Saturday.
Andrew Mwangura, East Africa's Coordinator of Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP), said the MV Layla-S which was seized on Wednesday after it unloaded at the port in the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland has 14 crew members on board from Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Syria.
"The ill-fated Cambodian flagged cargo ship MV LAYLA-S is being held hostage in port Berbera by Somali businessmen owing to a deal which has gone sour," Mwangura said by telephone from Mombasa, east Kenya.
"It is said that the vessel has link with Syrian and UAE business men. We are informed that she was taken by gunmen after discharging her cargo," he said.

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