Somali pirates collect $150M in ransoms

by Tina Kells | November 21, 2008 at 09:43 am

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Johnny Depp isn't the only "pirate" making millions. Kenya's foreign minister reported today that in 2008 Somali pirates collected more than $150 million in ransoms.

Piracy of the real world kind is clearly a lucrative business. So it is no wonder that victim nations of the pirate hijackings are taking advantage of the current global attention to the problem by letting the world know the high dollar amounts being extorted.

Media attention to the issue of pirates has been slowly growing over the past year. The coast off of Somalia is a pirate hot spot with over 30% of all hijackings occurring in Somali waters. Traditionally Somali pirates have targeted ships from non-Muslim nations but last Friday that trend was broken when the Saudi super-tanker Sirius Star was seized.

Pirates have demanded a $25 million dollar ransom from the Saudis for the release of the Sirius Star but the Saudis have so far refused to give in to the extortion. The attack on the Sirius Star may turn out to be the beginning of the end for the Somali pirates as Islamic nations throughout the world are now vowing to fight the pirates with everything they have.

The Somali pirates are taking the threat very seriously and have begun to build up their defenses in preparation for a retaliatory assault from Islamic forces. Along with Saudi and allied military forces, volunteer militias from nearby villages have joined in the fight to save the Sirius Star and its crew from the Somali pirates.

Kenya's foreign minister says Somali pirates have collected more than $150 million in ransoms over the past year.

Moses Wetangula is calling on ship owners not to pay ransom when their vessels are hijacked off the lawless coast of Somalia because such payments are what have emboldened the pirates.

In their most daring seizure so far, the pirates captured a massive Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil.

Wetangula was speaking Friday during a meeting with diplomats to discuss piracy off the eastern Africa coast.

Somali pirates built up their defences around a captured Saudi Arabian super-tanker on Friday after demanding a 25 million dollar ransom.

As foreign navies sent warships to Somalia's dangerous waters and shipping companies sought alternative routes, extra clan militia and other fighters were brought in at the pirate lair of Harardhere, residents said.

"Some of them are inside the town and others are taking shelter in a nearby village and can be called if need be," local resident Mohamed Awale told AFP. He said the fighters had come from neighbouring Gulgudud and Mudug regions.

Local militia and hardline Shebab fighters also arrived in Harardhere in what some residents said was a move to position themselves for a share of any ransom paid.

"There are two armed vehicles belonging to al Shebab. They have reached the town of Harardhere but there are no intentions of attacking the ship from here," a Harardhere Islamist official told AFP by phone.

A fighter with a radical Islamic group in Somalia says it will go after the pirates holding a Saudi supertanker.

Abdelghafar Musa says the pirates should not seize ships belonging to Muslim nations or loot the property of Muslims.

He claims to speak on behalf of all Islamic fighters in Somalia.

The seizure on Saturday of the massive Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million worth of crude oil was the most daring by the pirates to date.

In the past two weeks Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates have seized a total of eight vessels. Several hundred crew are now in the hands of Somali pirates.