Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has confirmed five Indian sailors, posted in Nigeria, have been abducted by pirates.
Swaraj posted a tweet on Twitter on Tuesday asking the Indian ambassador in Nigeria, Abhay Thakur, to take up the matter with the Nigerian government to ensure the release of the abducted sailors, reported The Hindu.
“I have seen news reports about abduction of five Indian sailors by pirates in Nigeria. I am asking Indian High Commissioner to take this up at the highest level with Government of Nigeria for their release,” she wrote on Twitter.
She also asked Thakur to send her a detailed report on the matter.
The confirmation of the abduction comes days after Indian media reported that pirates had abducted five Indian sailors last month and took their ship MT APECUS in Bonny Outer anchorage in Nigeria. It has been over two weeks since the sailors were abducted.
The Indian mission in Nigeria wrote back to her saying the officials are in touch with the Nigerian Navy and police for the past 10 days. The High Commission also said that the abductors have made initial contact.
The families of the abducted Indian sailors said that they have been unable to contact them for several days. Bhagyashree Das, the wife of one of the abducted sailor Sudeep Kumar Choudhury, appealed to Swaraj on Twitter saying her husband has been kidnapped from the MT APECUS (IMO 733810) vessel. She sent another tweet tagging BJP spokesperson and former MP from Odisha Baijayant Jay Panda, asking him to look into the matter urgently and save her husband as well as four other abducted sailors.
