This story is a few days old, but remains strange and disturbing. The Dutch coaster Leopard, carrying a cargo of weapons, was reported to have been hijacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Oman last week, but when a Turkish naval vessel located the ship, there was no sign of the crew of six, nor of the pirates. A hijacked Taiwanese owned fishing vessel, believed to be being used as a pirate mother ship, was observed heading towards Somalia. There is speculation that the crew was aboard the hijacked fishing vessel. There is also concern that the crew, two Danes and four Filipinos, may have been killed. The Leopard was carrying a cargo of arms but was apparently abandoned by the pirates, leaving the arms cargo untouched.
Thanks to Phil Leon for pointing out the strange story.
any idea of the origin and destination of the weapons? guns? tanks?
The news sources are all vague. Tradewinds says: “The Leopard is known to be carrying what various informed sources have described as a “sensitive” cargo which is believed to include weapons. Although ships operated by Shipcraft, the Leopard’s Danish operator, routinely carry nuclear items, this vessel is not believed to have any onboard.’ Shipgaz news say: ” The Leopard was hijacked on January 12 after leaving Salalah on a voyage with armaments from Sweden bound for several ports in the Far East.”
The ship was on an International voyage with only six (6) persons as crew. This does not even meet the manning scale requirements for such a vessel on an International voyage. How did she get a Clearance from the Swedish Maritime Authorities? Absolutely disgraceful!! Once again putting “Seafarers at Risk” for which see the post in NAUTICAL LOG.
Good Watch.
There is clearly a lot that doesn’t make sense about these series of events.
If you choose to believe pirates? This site says the crew was kidnapped.
Board of M/V Leopard
Saturday, 15.Jan.2011, 10:56 (GMT+2)
Meanwhile the owners of the M/V Leopard contacted NATO Standing Naval Task Group SNMG-2/CTF-508 and informed that the pirates contacted them, and confirmed the fact that all the crew of M/V Leopard, 2 Danes and 4 Filipinos, were kidnapped.
http://www.seanews.com.tr/article/TURSHIP/NAVY/48900/TCG-Gaziantep-M/V-Leopard-Piracy/
That is good very news. Most reports said that the owners had not been contacted. Initial reports suggested that the crew may have been killed. This one is pretty typical. It initially suggested the crew was dead but was updated without a change to the title:
Leopard crew may be dead
Turkish Maritime Bulletin
Mr.Mikhail Yoytenko
Dear sir,
Major news has ignored the MV Leopard ‘dog bites man’ story. Why?
The delivery port of the ammo/weapons on that ship is still not disclosed.
Why?
Could this be the international military, world navies together, working
together? Would they, together, have known the destination? A sharp
message to the ship owners and cargo owners?
I don’t know. But seems the most logical explanation and this too is
oddly not put forth.
A Turkish naval ship obtained valuable salvage. In one sense the Turkish
naval ship was part of an international naval patrol. In another sense it
was not. There should be one question that you can answer. How many are
claiming the ship and cargo? Who will end up with the ship? Who will end
up owning the cargo? Why is this not out in the open?
Sincerely,
Michael Donovan
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