While everyone is busy focusing on handling measures against the coronavirus, seafaring robbers have taken advantage and hijacked ships and stole equipment.

However, this is not the first that this happened since the COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. Just in the previous week, some armed pirates attacked several ships in the same area at the Gulf of Mexico, and authorities have suggested that the same gang might have done all these.

Offshore 70 nautical miles from the coast of Puerto Dos Bocas, an Italian-owned supply vessel, REMAS, was seen defenseless against an armed robbery by three pirates who hijacked the ship. Two of the crew members were injured, and the security camera recorded most of what happened.

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Security footage

From the footage from the security cameras in Remas, three masked men with firearms are gesturing at three of the unarmed crew. Without many options, one of them kneeled in front of the suspects. The assault was, however, not recorded in the video.


The suspects were said to have fired shots and took the crew as hostages to subdue resistance.

Not soon after, two of them suffered brutal blows that resulted in bruises, particularly on the head. The crew reported some of their belongings were robbed from them afterward, and then the suspects proceeded to steal the ship's navigation and communication equipment. Authorities believed these were popular in the black market.

This makes it the second time pirates attacked Remas. However, earlier this April, eight-armed suspects approached the ship, but the attempt was blotched.

Apparently, for crime in the sea, no procedures of prevention will be enough to stop the assaults by pirates. After this series of raids, the International Maritime Organization, or IMO, may declare the Campeche Sound as a legitimate piracy zone.

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Series of sea robberies

Remas is only one of five other ships that were hijacked in a series of robberies by pirates. Authorities suspect they may be from the same group since these transpired days after one another in the same area.

Among the other ships attacked by a mob of sea criminals in the last month is the Mexican vessel Remington, the Panamanian ship Sapura 3500, and Vanuatu's Achiever.

Last April 10, Dryad Global, a maritime intelligence agency, explained that the Gulf of Mexico is still considered a stable nautical route, and suggested that recent reports of piracy activities might just be a product of underreporting.

Because the Gulf of Mexico was close to Pemex, the state-owned oil company in Mexico, Dryad said pirates might have always been lurking in the region.

"Despite the low risk, piracy incidents can be violent, often involving weapons and firearms with a willingness to shoot and intimidate. Despite the recent reporting, it is assessed that the Gulf of Mexico continues to present a low-risk trading option for commercial vessels.

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