Normand-Cutter

Gibraltar’s Gibdock shipyard has completed its scope of work on Solstad Shipping’s Normand Cutter, a 127-meter-long, 10,979grt construction support vessel (CSV) that left the yard on June 29 following a 22-day drydock program, which included an overhaul of its entire propulsion system. http://www.marinelink.com/news/propulsion-overhaul412039.aspx

The "Normand Cutter" was stopped by a Nigerian paramilitary Navy boat on Sep 4, 2015, in the Bight of Biafra and boarded by militants, behaving like officials. They checked the vessel and its certificates, but most probably, they left the vessel after having reached an agreement with the Solstad company regarding a ransom. The Norwegian captain of the vessel recognized the Navy boat as a former missile boat of the Norwegian navy, six of which have been sold to to the Nigerian warlord Tompolo Ekpemupolo who was the leader of the rebel movement in the Niger Delta. After he made peace with authoirities, he was granted amnesty and a license to run a private security company to fight pirates and to collect tax from vessels plying Nigerian waters, on behalf of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency. The vessel resumed its operations.