Five intrusions have been registered in the month of April; an one more in March. Cloaked men have been boarding boats and oil platforms; in the zone of Cantarell III, of the shores of Campeche and Tabasco. Between April 8 and 16, one attack has been recorded every other day.
Armed men, wearing masks are boarding boats linked to oil production in the middle of the night. They also climb metal structure bases until they reach personnel areas on oil platforms, to strip workers from their belongings at gun point: These men are modern pirates operating in the Gulf of Mexico in the XXI Century.
They steal equipment, supplies, computers. cell phones and cash; they injure and threaten with knives and firearms, then they climb down and flee in small boats. In the first 16 days of April, five boat intrusions were recorded in the maritime zone between Tabasco and Campeche.
The vessels Sapura 3500, Remas, Maersk Transporter, Telfod 28 and Bucanneer were the ones affected in the fourth month of the year. In March, one case was reported on the Cantarel III Oil Platform.
Since April 8, each of the attacks has been carried out every other day. The Sapura 3500 ship was the first victim this month.
A couple of days later, on the 10th, the Italian-flagged ship Remas suffered one more assault, along with its crew; the second in less than 6 months.
El barco de suministro en alta mar REMAS fue atacado y abordado por piratas armados en el golfo de México, cerca del Puerto Dos Bocas (México). pic.twitter.com/MuvQJHpeq8
— RT en Español (@ActualidadRT) April 19, 2020
The groups of pirates range from three to eight according to testimonies, and a notorious increase in criminal activity has been registered since 2018, according to information from the Attorney General of the State of Campeche.