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The Accra Central Magistrate Court,  presided over by her Worship Efua Gyetowah Sackey, has instructed the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) to allow the eight Nigerian nationals suspected to be pirates, who are currently in their custody, access to their counsel.

The court gave the order, after the counsel for the suspects, who are currently facing charges of conspiracy to commit crime and piracy, told the court that the BNI had denied him access to his clients.  He described the development as hostility on the part of the Ghanaian law enforcers.

Uche Nwosu, the counsel, further told the court that the BNI failed to honour their promise made before the honorable court on the last adjourned day, to allow him access to his clients. He lamented that the law enforcers denied him access to his clients since their last appearance in court. Nwosu, therefore, prayed the court to order the police the BNI to allow him access to his clients.

The State Prosecutor in charge of the case, Victor Dosu, on his part, argued that looking at the high status of the case, the Defense Counsel ought to follow due process before he would be allowed to see his clients.

The Presiding Judge, after listening to both arguments, granted the request of the defense counsel, Uche Nwosu, and ordered the BNI to allow him access twice a week, specifically, 9am and 2pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, to see his clients.

The eight accused persons were present in court yesterday, unlike the last hearing, where the BNI could not transport them due to unavailability of vehicle.The suspected pirates debunk the police claims that they were being catered for and even allow them talk to their relatives on phone.

The court has, however, adjourned the case to March 5, 2015 for hearing. Meanwhile, due to the low lying nature of the Accra District Court, the downpour on Wednesday night flooded most of the rooms.

Background
The Ghana Navy, on Saturday January 17, 2015, tracked and rescued a Nigerian cargo vessel which was hijacked by the eight suspected bandits, who are Nigerian nationals.

The eight, who gave their names as Molih Williams, 32, Peggy Aki, 32, Ebiyaibo Amos, 32, Molih Klisman, 31, David Jacob, 30, Ayetimiyi Oyinle, 29, Pinamo Saniyo, 26 and Picolo John, 25, believed to have come from the Niger Delta, were all armed, but no one, including a nine-member crew aboard the vessel, was injured when the Ghana Navy crew aboard GNS BLIKA rescued the vessel and effected the arrest of the suspected pirates.

The suspects had in their possession four AK47 assault rifles, 300 rounds of live ammunition loaded in magazines, one pump action gun, three Very High Frequency (VHF) radio sets, 18 mobile phones, one digital camera, seven wrist watches, one hair clipper, personal cloths, US$1,270 and 43,850 Naira.

According to the Executive Director of Maxweir Nigeria Limited, owners of the tanker, Makase Sunday, who spoke to the media after the arrest of the suspects in Tema, the Nigerian registered tanker was loaded at Esacavour, 26 nautical miles off the Port of Wari, and began her journey to the Lomé Port.

According to him, his company was all the time in touch with the vessel, but at a point in time, unknown persons got hold of the communication gadgets and informed the owners that they had hijacked the vessel, and that they were going to sell the product on board, and use the proceeds and the tanker to hijack other vessels.

Sunday said as soon as that message was delivered, the entire communication system in the vessel went off, but a tracking device remained active, unknown to the hijackers.

He noted that the vessel was all along being tracked, and upon arrival, some nautical miles off the coast of Contonu, Benin, the vessel veered off track. The owner suspected that it was heading towards Ghanaian waters, so he informed the Ghana Navy for assistance.

The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Eastern Naval Command, Commodore Steve Darboh, speaking to the media, said upon the receipt of the distress call from the owners of the vessel, Ghana Navy Ship GNS BLIKA, under the Commandership of Lt-Commander Kafui Agbemabia, was dispatched to the area.

The FOC said that on Saturday January 17, at exactly 1030 hours, the hijacked vessel was spotted heading towards Ghana, and the pirates, realising that the Ghana Navy was trailing them, took cover among the crew and went to conceal their weapons at an obscure place in the vessel.

The GNS BLIKA, the FOC said, made a few maneuvers and confused the hijackers, before finally succeeding in arresting them. When they were searched, a cache of arms was discovered on board the vessel.