Men of the Ghana Navy last Saturday rescued a MT Miriam, a pirated Nigerian ship following an appeal for help by its owners.
The ship owner had informed the Navy that the pirates had told him there were going to use the vessel for another attack.
The pirates were armed, but no one, including a nine-member crew aboard MT Mariam, was injured when the Ghana Navy crew aboard GNS BLIKA effected the arrest.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the 1 Garrison of the Ghana Armed Forces, Lt Maxwell Asola, all eight pirates are Nigerians.
Owners of the hijacked ship alerted the Ghana Navy about the incident and requested for assistance.
MV Mariam had been scheduled to dock at the Tema port on Sunday.
Lt. Maxwell Asola told newsmen that the arrest took place at about 10:30am and that the owner of the vessel in lodging the complaint, said the “pirates told him via telephone that they wanted to use the vessel to carry out an attack and banged the phone”.
This prompted the owner of MV Mariam to approach the Ghana Navy for assistance.
Meanwhile the Ghana Navy is leading a multi-national team in search of another vessel to which the cargo of MT Miriam, presumably crude oil, was transferred just before the rescue.