Multi-million dollar cargoes are once again at risk of being stolen after a ship operated by an organised group based in the Lebanon broke arrest from Banjul, Gambia, in the early hours of 25th October 2003, warns ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

CIUTA (IMO no.8030960) was one of at least two ships operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, North African and West African coasts, duping shippers out of cargoes by offering bargain freight rates. Instead of discharging the cargoes at their destinations, the ship s have been changing identity and deviating to other ports to illegally discharge the goods.

"It is all too easy at present for criminal vessels such as this to change their identity, disappear and avoid the legal sanctions." said IMB's director, Captain Pottengal Mukundan. "Until the embossing of the IMO number on the hull of the vessel becomes mandatory, it is extremely difficult to locate and seize the vessel in another port."

He added:"The marking of the IMO number visibly on the hull of the vessel is part of the ISPS Code and will be phased in over the next few years, after the Code comes into effect on 1st July 2004."

The first reported cargo theft by this group came to light in September 2002 when a 1969-built general cargo ship, LUCKY III loaded a steel cargo in Istanbul and headed for Lagos, Nigeria. The ship subsequently deviated and finished up illegally selling her cargo in Lattakia, Syria. In November 2002, the same ship, having changed her name to STAR and flying the Tongan flag, was chartered to take a consignment of polyethylene from Libya to Morocco. Once again, she headed to Lattakia and discharged the cargo under false documentation. The IMB has learned that since leaving Lattakia, the ship has again changed names.

In December 2002, PANCIU, a 1980-built general-cargo ship, flying the North Korean flag, loaded a shipment of bagged cement in Alexandria, Egypt. The shipment was intended for two consignees in Conakry, Guinea. Ship's identity was changed at sea to CIUTA and she deviated to Banjul, Gambia, where the cement was sold to a local buyer. Fortunately, the ship was apprehended after an alert local shipping agent in Banjul tipped off the IMB and the local authorities. She was arrested under a court order of the Gambian Supreme Court. Since her arrest, two armed naval guards were stationed aboard 24-hours. The ship however absconded in the early hours of 25 October 2003, with Mr Famara Faye, one of the guards, still onboard.

Given the previous history of the ship it is highly likely that CIUTA will be re-named, re-flagged and return to cargo theft operations.


International Maritime Bureau

ICC Commercial Crime Services