Pirates....now with tanks!

[Chemical Ollie]

I assume the black guys are pirates and the white are crew. But you never know, ship crews are regularly made up of mixed nationalities. You would need at least a dozen hidden snipers firing simoultanously and accurately, or else you are are screwed. Hostages dead, hostage ship sunk, or whatever little nasty surprise they have prepared.

And I don't think it's that easy to snipe accurately from a ship, not even a huge one. The slightest wave and you miss. I think it's hard enough to keep a pair of binoculars steady in calm weather on my own (small) boat, I wouldn't even think of shooting something at 500 meters.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Krill
It'd be worse if they just made a few holes in the side of the tanker instead of trying to blow up that much oil. I say trying because oxidising a hydrocarbon without oxygen isn't particulary easy...

I didn't mean igniting all the oil. Just enough explosives to hole the hull/sink the ship.

I still don't see them bothering to do that.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Chemical Ollie
Even if super-tankers are tough built and can take a ship-to ship collision without breaking, I doubt that they are built to endure military violence of the 2000's.

The pirates don't have anything to challenge a warship at a distance, so I would expect all the possible violence to be from small arms fire and RPG's.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by GePap


The pirates don't have anything to challenge a warship at a distance, so I would expect all the possible violence to be from small arms fire and RPG's.

They have at least heavy machine guns and armour-piercing RPG's, if not heavier. Bad enough. The hull of a 300-meter tanker is harder to miss than a barn from inside. And if they have already captured the ship, anything they have can destroy it. The oil leak from a 300-meter tanker is a catastrophy no one would want to risk, as someone would have to clean the mess.

[The Mad Monk]

If the priates made the mess, the pirates can clean it up.

[The Mad Monk]

Piracy a booming industry in Somalia
By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and ELIZABETH KENNEDY
The Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia | Somalia’s increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women — even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages.

And in an impoverished country where every public institution has crumbled, they have become heroes in the steamy coastal dens they operate from because they are the only real business in town.

“The pirates depend on us, and we benefit from them,” said Sahra Sheik Dahir, a shop owner in Harardhere, the nearest village to where a hijacked Saudi Arabian supertanker carrying $100 million in crude was anchored Wednesday.

These boomtowns are all the more shocking in light of Somalia’s violence and poverty: Radical Islamists control most of the country’s south, meting out lashings and stonings for accused criminals. There has been no effective central government in nearly 20 years, plunging this arid African country into chaos.

Life expectancy is just 46 years; a quarter of children die before they reach 5.

But in northern coastal towns such as Harardhere, Eyl and Bossaso, the pirate economy is thriving thanks to the money pouring in from pirate ransoms that have reached $30 million this year alone.

“There are more shops and business is booming because of the piracy,” said Sugule Dahir, who runs a clothing shop in Eyl. “Internet cafes and telephone shops have opened, and people are just happier than before.”

In Harardhere, residents came out in droves to celebrate as the looming oil ship came into focus this week off the country’s lawless coast.

Businessmen gathered cigarettes, food and cold bottles of orange soda, setting up kiosks for the pirates who come to shore to resupply almost daily.

Dahir said she started a layaway plan for them.

“They always take things without paying and we put them into the book of debts,” she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Later, when they get the ransom money, they pay us a lot.”

Residents offer support from the ground even as the international community tries to quash them.

“Regardless of how the money is coming in, legally or illegally, I can say it has started a life in our town,” said Shamso Moalim, a 36-year-old mother of five in Harardhere.

“Our children are not worrying about food now, and they go to Islamic schools in the morning and play soccer in the afternoon. They are happy.”

The pirate villages used to have houses made of corrugated iron sheets; now, there are a number of stately looking houses made of sturdy, white stones.

Local traders also inflate their prices for the pirates.

“I can buy a packet of cigarettes for about $1 but I will charge the pirate $1.30,” said Abdulqadir Omar, an Eyl resident.

The attackers generally treat their hostages well in anticipation of a big payday, hiring caterers on shore to cook spaghetti, grilled fish and roasted meat that will appeal to Western palates.

And when the payday comes, the money sometimes literally falls from the sky.

Pirates say the ransom arrives in burlap sacks, sometimes dropped from buzzing helicopters, or in waterproof suitcases loaded onto skiffs in the roiling, shark-infested sea.

“The oldest man on the ship always takes the responsibility of collecting the money, because we see it as very risky, and he gets some extra payment for his service later,” Aden Yusuf, a pirate in Eyl, told The Associated Press over VHF radio.

The pirates use money-counting machines — the same technology seen at foreign exchange bureaus worldwide — to ensure the cash is real.

“Getting this equipment is easy for us; we have business connections with people in Dubai, Nairobi, Djibouti and other areas,” Yusuf said. “So we send them money and they send us what we want.”

Despite a beefed-up international presence, the pirates continue to seize ships, moving farther out to sea and demanding ever-larger ransoms.

Meanwhile, towns that once were eroded by years of poverty and chaos are now bustling with restaurants, Land Cruisers and Internet cafes. Residents also use their gains to buy generators — allowing full days of electricity, once an unimaginable luxury in Somalia.

Although the bandits do sometimes get nabbed, piracy is generally considered a sure bet to a better life.

Developments
•On Tuesday, a 400-foot Indian navy frigate armed with cruise missiles, surface-to-air missiles and machine guns sank a pirate “mother ship.” But across the water, pirates seized a Thai ship with 16 crew members and an Iranian cargo vessel with a crew of 25.

•Also on Tuesday, Delight, a Hong Kong cargo ship carrying wheat to Iran, was seized. It was the seventh in 12 days.

•Saturday, a Saudi supertanker with a $100 million cargo of oil, became the biggest pirate prize yet. The Sirius Star episode is disturbing both because of the threat of a disrupted oil supply and the pirates’ range — 450 miles off the coast of Kenya — where ships were presumed safe.

•Meanwhile, the Ukrainian freighter Faina, loaded with tanks and arms, is still out there after two months of standoff, surrounded by U.S. ships.

Fighting the pirate problem
There are no easy answers. For every solution there is at least one snag:

•SOLUTION: Put security squads aboard the ships. The International Maritime Bureau reports that crews warded off several of the perhaps dozen pirate attacks this month. Using water hoses has worked in the past.

•PROBLEM: Although the pirates are trained fighters, heavily armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, violence has been minimal. Too much resistance could bring crew casualties.

•SOLUTION: More warships to patrol. Saudi Arabia said Tuesday it was ready to put its navy into an international effort.

•PROBLEM: The Gulf of Aden is a vast swath of salt water, not to mention the west Indian Ocean. Warships cannot escort every ship and cannot always get to an attack scene in time. There is a protected corridor through the gulf, but even there last week NATO ships engaged in a firefight with pirates trying to hijack a Danish ship.

•SOLUTION: Military action to clean out pirate strongholds on the coast of Somalia. The tanker Sirius Star and its 25-member crew are in Harardhere.

•PROBLEM: Nations are reluctant to get drawn into Somalia’s chaos. A bloody assault could undermine Somalia’s central government, already beleaguered by advancing Islamic militants. Somali officials vow to try to rescue the Saudi supertanker, by force if necessary.

•SOLUTION: Avoid the Suez and take the longer route.

•PROBLEM: But how far out is safe? The capture of the Saudi supertanker was nearly as far from the Gulf of Aden as Paris is from Moscow.

http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/899885.html

[Darius871]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
That the navies don't want to end up with a bunch of dead hostages on their hands?

pfft, screw them

[BeBMan]

Remember that oil tanker? I mean that one hijacked recently. Islamists don't like piracy when it's against Muslim-owned ships, so they're now standing up against such piracy (or maybe the Saudis just pay them to do so ). Infidel ships can however be attacked as usual:

Somali Islamist insurgents have begun searching for the pirates who hijacked a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker last Saturday, reports say.

A spokesman for the al-Shabab group, Abdelghafar Musa, said hijacking a Muslim-owned ship was a major crime and they would pursue those responsible.

The pirates are thought to be trying to obtain a multi-million dollar ransom.

The ship, the Sirius Star, is believed to be be anchored off the Somali port of Haradheere.

It has an international crew of 25 people and is carrying $100m (£67m) worth of crude oil.

'Show of force'

"We are really sorry to hear that the Saudi ship has been held in Somalia," Mr Musa told the Associated Press.

Map

"We will fight them."

Reports said Islamist fighters had descended on Haradheere in an apparent show of force, saying they were looking for the pirates.

"The Islamists arrived searching for the pirates and the whereabouts of the Saudi ship," an unnamed elder in the port told Reuters news agency.

"I saw four cars full of Islamists driving in the town from corner to corner. The Islamists say they will attack the pirates for hijacking a Muslim ship."

Another report suggested local militia and Shebab fighters had arrived in Harardhere in a move to position themselves for a share of any spoils.

"There are many militiamen who have arrived in the town and they want to get a share from the pirates if the ransom is paid," Ahmed Abdullahi, a local elder, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.

Meanwhile, Kenya reported on Friday that Somali pirates had been paid more than $150m (£101m) in ransoms in the past 12 months.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7743204.stm

[Winston]

Originally posted by BeBro
Remember that oil tanker?

No, this is the first I've heard.

[Patroklos]

We are assuming the pirates would in fact kill the hostages. Killing hostages is probably the WORST buisness move the pirates could make.

[MarkG]

China to save the world from pirates!

Chinese naval fleet sets sail to fight pirates


YALONG BAY NAVAL BASE, Hainan: A Chinese naval fleet - armed with special forces, guided missiles and helicopters - set sail on Friday for anti-piracy duty off Somalia, the first time the country has sent ships on a mission that could involve fighting beyond its territorial waters.

Decorated with colored ribbons and flowers, the three warships - two destroyers and a supply vessel from the People's Liberation Army Navy - were unmoored at the military port by crew members in white naval uniforms.

The fleet will carry about 800 crew members, including 70 soldiers from the navy's special force.

The current expedition aims to guard civilian ships from attacks by Somali pirates.

A surge in attacks at sea this year in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean off Somalia has pushed up insurance costs, brought the Somali gangs tens of millions of dollars in ransom and led to the dispatching of foreign warships to the area.

The victims included a Hong Kong-registered ship with 25 crew aboard and a Chinese mainland fishing boat reportedly seized off the Kenyan coast.

After Rear-Admiral Du Jingchen, commander of the mission, received the "go" signal from Wu Shengli, commander-in-chief of the Chinese navy, the flagship of the fleet, missile destroyer Wuhan, weighed anchor at 1:45 pm.

To the strains of military music played by a naval band, the other destroyer, Haikou, and Weishanhu, a large vessel loaded with supplies, followed the flagship as sailors waved to guests on the dock.

The fleet will cruise for about 10 days before it arrives in the Gulf of Aden, joining the multinational patrol in one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

"This is a historic expedition for the Chinese navy that is being watched by millions. It underlines China's determination to safeguard its citizens' interests and contributes to the international community," Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi said at the send-off ceremony.

The current mission might be a long one that poses unforeseeable challenges, said Du, who is chief of staff of the navy's South China Sea Fleet.

The escort fleet will protect Chinese vessels and crews, including those from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan seeking protection when passing through the area, as well as foreign ships on request.

The first phase of the mission will last for at least three months and the navy may send new crews to relieve the fleet at an appropriate time, depending on the situation and the decision of the UN Security Council.

It will also help ships carrying humanitarian relief for international organizations, such as the UN World Food Program. The fleet will not charge escort service or protection fees to ships, whether foreign or Chinese.

The fleet will be ready to respond to appeals for protection from Jan 6.

Du, speaking on board the destroyer Wuhan, said the fleet had not been given specific instructions about the Chinese fishing vessel Tian Yu 8, which is still being held by pirates, since the government has not given up negotiating with the pirates.

Hundreds of tourists at a nearby beach watched the fleet as they seized the opportunity to take photos of the warships.

"The beach was busy, with many people coming here just to watch the fleet set off," said Wang Bin, 38, who rents boats at the beach.

"As China's national strength grows, so does its responsibility," said Liu Hui, a 28-year-old tourist from Beijing.

Xinhua, agencies contributed to the story

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-12/27/content_7346349.htm

[Alinestra Covelia]

I first read that as "China to save the world from piracy" and I thought "No way!"

[Dr Strangelove]

It's said that the pirates have contacts abroad, like in Dubai, Lebanon, etc. to launder their money. It seems to me their contacts would be pretty easy to remove, simply by listening in on telephone traffic from Somalia.

[Dinner]

Hopefully Chinese ships are better built then the rest of the crap from China. It would be embarrassing if the ship sinks and the crew has to be saved by the pirates.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Most Chinese military hardware is modelled on Soviet specs, and whatever isn't is usually modelled on US specs (acquired through intermediaries like Israel). So whatever the controversies about their domestic item quality control, their military hardware is pretty much as professional as any other nation's.