Liberia's eco-vigilantes score arresting success in struggle to end illegal fishing

For years, Liberia fought a losing battle against the foreign vessels plundering its coastline. Then a bold new approach sent fines - and arrests - soaring Petty officer George Kromah, of the Liberian coastguard, slings his AK47 across his back before disappearing over the side of the Sam Simon, joining his colleagues in the rib below. The boat roars off, quickly followed by a second, speeding through the choppy Atlantic swell in pursuit of a suspected illegal fishing vessel that has crossed into Liberia's territorial waters from Sierra Leone.Kromah and his fellow officers are on the frontline of the little nation's ill-matched crackdown on fisheries crime - which Interpol has linked with the trafficking of drugs and people, as well as fraud and tax evasion. Continue reading...