Suspicious Activity Report: Bab el Mabdeb

MARLO has issued an alert to mariners following a report received from an oil tanker in the Bab el Mandeb on March 26th. 

The report states that the unnamed tanker was pursued by six skiffs with an unknown number of occupants at 1323 UTC in position 13:16N-042:57E. The skiffs reportedly came to within 1.8nm of the MV, which enforced Best Management Practice measures.

Neptune classes this as suspicious activity rather than an actual approach and it is unclear where the pursuit element came in to play or why the report wasn’t issued yesterday.

All vessels in the region are warned to operate with a heightened level of security. It is not reported whether the vessel in question had a PMSC team on board.