Five Chinese crew kidnapped by Heavily armed Men

Dryad Global a maritime security consultancy reported that the general cargo vessel KOTA BUDI was boarded by heavily armed men resulting in the kidnap of 5 crew on Friday morning. The kidnapped crew are believed to all be Chinese nationals.

#Breaking Kidnapping Of Crew 153nm SW Cotonou. General cargo vessel KOTA BUDI boarded by heavily armed men #kidnap of 5 crew believed to be Chinese nationals #Benin #FridayMorning
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— Dryad Global (@GlobalDryad) July 3, 2020

This is the 7^th incident in the waters off Benin within 2020. This latest kidnapping brings the total number of kidnapped personnel in maritime incidents off West Africa in 2020 to 80. Incidents of kidnapping are currently tracking at 26% higher in 2020 than in 2019.

The vessel can be seen to have been drifting at the time of incident at 153nm offshore. AIS indicates that the vessel has been in position for approximately a week having previously visited the Nigerian port of Warri.