NGA weekly piracy reports available

[Hud3]

The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) publishes reports of piracy against commercial shipping and private yachts, worldwide. The weekly reports can be found at:

Maritime Safety Information

Here's an example of what the 9 July report contains:

C. SOUTH AMERICA:
.
1. VENEZUELA: Sailboat boarded 8 Jul 08 at 2300 local time, Porlamar, Margarita Island.
One female crewmember and a baby were on board at the time. The woman was blindfolded
with a towel and tied up with duct tape. The intruder went through and searched for money.
After 30 minutes the intruder left. The incident was reported to the local police and the VHF Ch.
72. No injuries to crew (Operator: Noonsite.com).
.
2. VENEZUELA: Yachts boarded, some robbed 4 Jul 08 at 1830 and 2030, while at
anchorage, Porlamar, Margarita Island. The first boat was boarded by three men while the owner
was on board. He heard noises and woke up and saw the perpetrators leave quickly. Nothing
was stolen from this vessel. The second boat was boarded, and the perpetrators attempted to cut
off two big fenders, however a watchful cruiser nearby chased them off by pointing a light at
them. A call for help was made via VHF, but no response. The third boat was boarded and
robbed of a life raft, lines and fenders. All incidents were reported to the local police and on
VHF 72 to make all cruisers in the anchorage aware, no injuries (Operator: noonsite.com).
.
3. VENEZUELA: Sailboat boarded, robbed 28 Jun 08 between 0200 and 0400 while at
anchorage, Pampatar, Margarita Island. Five armed men boarded the vessel and tied up the
owner for the next two hours while they went through the boat and stole all valuables. The
incident was reported on 30 Jun 08 to the cruisers net on VHF 72 and local police (Operator: noonsite.com)

[camaraderie]

Good link Hud...I note that noonsite was the source for many of the reports. Jimmy Cornell says:
"Jimmy Cornell comments, "although most sailors continue to be concerned about the risk of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and areas close to Somalia, the number of attacks and robberies on cruising yachts in Venezuelan waters has been significantly higher recently. The only reasonable advice to anyone sailing in the Caribbean is to avoid Venezuela at all costs and not to stray anywhere near its coast or off-lying islands. The authorities are quite clearly doing nothing to control the situation and, if previous reports are true, some of the alleged attackers may have been officials wearing civilian clothing".
Rest of the article: Noonsite: Recent Spate of Attacks on Cruising Yachts in Venezuela
Has links to detailed reports of 4 incidents in July.

[Hud3]

That's scary! Officials moonlighting as pirates.

Yeah, I noticed the Noonsite reference. Some of the info is available elsewhere, but it seems like a pretty good way to see the "big picture", updated weekly. I note that they invite people to report incidents, and have a page on their site for doing so.