NAIROBI – A court ordered the release on Tuesday of a Kenyan who monitors piracy off Somalia pending his trial on charges of giving “alarming” information about the destination of tanks seized on a Ukrainian ship.

But relatives of Andrew Mwangura, of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, were unable immediately to produce a 200,000 shilling ($2,747) bond the court required to let him leave custody in Mombasa port.

Mwangura's arrest last week heightened controversy around the capture of the MV Faina, loaded with 33 T-72 tanks, in the most high-profile of this year's rash of hijackings off Somalia.

He had said the tanks, grenade-launchers and ammunition on board the Ukrainian vessel were bound for South Sudan, and not Kenya as Nairobi says. That embarrassed the Kenyan government, which helped broker a 2005 north-south peace pact in Sudan.

Nairobi-based diplomats back Mwangura's version.

The ship's manifest, seen by Reuters, listed Kenya as the “consignee” but gave MOD/GOSS as the contract reference. GOSS is the normal abbreviation for Government of South Sudan.

Mwangura's lawyer, Francis Kadima, said relatives were urgently seeking title deeds or other documents worth 200,000 shillings so he could be released later on Tuesday before his scheduled transfer to a local prison.

“There is no reasonable explanation why he was held. It was just to keep him incommunicado,” Kadima told Reuters from Mombasa, where Mwangura is based. “He is OK. He realises this is just harassment, so he is trying to stay positive.”

Kadima said a second charge against Mwangura, of possessing $3 worth of marijuana – which brought laughter in court last week when announced – “smacks of planting” by police.

The Kenyan government says Mwangura has suspiciously close ties to pirates and has become their de facto “spokesperson.”

Mwangura, who gave media a daily stream of information about the Faina case, says he has contacts with families of hostages and pirates, plus international maritime groups.

International media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Tuesday for his immediate release

Pirates have attacked scores of vessels this year in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean shipping lanes off Somalia, reaping millions in ransoms and pushing up insurance costs. For the Faina and its 20 crew, they are demanding $20 million.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Heavens in Khartoum; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Mark Trevelyan)