From OilPrice.com

An oil tanker hijacked for a week off Angola last month has been returned to the authorities, but not before hijackers managed to siphon $8 million worth of diesel fuel from the ship for sale on the black market.

The Liberian-flagged vessel, MT Kerala, was chartered by Angola’s state-run Sonangol oil and was stocked with oil for delivery to its trading partners when it was hijacked by pirates off the coast of capital Luanda in late January, disappearing for a week.

Initially, the government suspected the crew of disabling the vessel’s communications system to stage a pirate attack, with Angola Navy spokesman Augusto Lourenco stating that the attack was “faked, and there have been no acts of piracy in Angolan waters.”

While details are still emerging in an ongoing investigation, the owner of the vessel, Dynacom Tankers Management of Greece, confirmed that pirates hijacked the ship and made away with $8 million in cargo, wounding one crew member in the process.

Interpol, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and the Liberian flag operators are now involved in the investigation.

Written by James Burgess | Read more from OilPrice.com