Somali piracy thread

[TopHatter]

@ ironduke
well not SPAAG but they got themselves some AAA as well

Actually that was me. :)

That Triple-A that they've got had better be of the mobile kind and able to handle relatively sophisticated anti-armor aviation assets.

That being said...

OMG, economy is really in bad shape now, even pirates started to collect junks and crap (T72) only to sell them @0.48 cents per kg.

...if your opponent is ill-equipped to deal with armored fighting vehicles (and I'm sure there are several African nations or groups that are not), then 'junks and crap' are all that you need and more. Especially what are probably export-model T-72's with lots of spares

[Shamus]

...if your opponent is ill-equipped to deal with armored fighting vehicles (and I'm sure there are several African nations or groups that are not), then 'junks and crap' are all that you need and more. Especially what are probably export-model T-72's with lots of spares

Very true TH,I believe we were speaking along similiar lines in the "Best tank of WWII" thread.Something about spears and hide shields vs. Italian tanks armed with 2 pounders;).

[Donnie]

I hear the russian navy is going in to fight the pirates, this should be interesting.

any chance this was planned? is thier an advantage to russia if certain factions in somolia were to get ahold of these tanks?

[Rookie Snipe]

russia joins the anti-piracy fleet

What are they going to do,sink her?

[LadyLawyer]

Russia is actually pretty resourceful in the Middle East as far as its network. I don't know about Africa. I'm sounding out an old Russia hand, but he hasn't gotten back to me.

[sappersgt]

Actually that was me. :)

That Triple-A that they've got had better be of the mobile kind and able to handle relatively sophisticated anti-armor aviation assets.

That being said...




...if your opponent is ill-equipped to deal with armored fighting vehicles (and I'm sure there are several African nations or groups that are not), then 'junks and crap' are all that you need and more. Especially what are probably export-model T-72's with lots of spares

I wonder how much you can get for used T-72s? When the ship gets towed to port, does the cargo become the property of the country to which the recovered ship is towed to? Can they make a legitimate claim? Finders keepers?;)

[sappersgt]

Now the ship is anchored off the Somali town of Hobyi where there are anchored TWO MORE hijacked ships. A US destroyer is a thousand yards away to make sure hostages or cargo isn't removed. This is getting interesting. Things may get difficult for our pirates, unless...

[sappersgt]

I hear the russian navy is going in to fight the pirates, this should be interesting.

any chance this was planned? is thier an advantage to russia if certain factions in somolia were to get ahold of these tanks?

Possibly an effort to keep tanks out of Kenya. Perhaps an oppurtinistic chance by Puntland to reinforce it's armed forces. They've been having a difficult time this year.

[jlvfr]

WoW! 35 million in ransom!! Think they'll pay?

[omon]

35??? that is it?? who is in charge there, doctor evil??

[T_igger_cs_30]

I wonder how much you can get for used T-72s? When the ship gets towed to port, does the cargo become the property of the country to which the recovered ship is towed to? Can they make a legitimate claim? Finders keepers?;)

We need a maritime law expert.......... because I think your right SS

[Skywatcher]

If these pirates had any brains, they would have just left the ship out after finding out what its cargo is. This is like some two bit ********ers in Compton stumbling across a ton of plutonium and actually keeping it.

[jlvfr]

If these pirates had any brains,

... they wouldn't be pirates! :))

[Army5339]

Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship

I am wondering what is in that ship.

The Times - Pirates die strangely after taking Iranian ship

A tense standoff has developed in waters off Somalia over an Iranian merchant ship laden with a mysterious cargo that was hijacked by pirates.

Somali pirates suffered skin burns, lost hair and fell gravely ill “within days” of boarding the MV Iran Deyanat. Some of them died.

Andrew Mwangura, the director of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, told the Sunday Times: “We don’t know exactly how many, but the information that I am getting is that some of them had died. There is something very wrong about that ship.”

The vessel’s declared cargo consists of “minerals” and “industrial products”. But officials involved in negotiations over the ship are convinced that it was sailing for Eritrea to deliver small arms and chemical weapons to Somalia’s Islamist rebels.

The drama over the Iran Deyanat comes as speculation grew this week about whether the South African Navy would send a vessel to join the growing multinational force in the region.

A naval spokesman, Lieutenant-Commander Greyling van den Berg, told the Sunday Times that the navy had not been ordered by the government to become involved in “the Somali pirate issue”.

About 22000 ships a year pass through the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden, where regional instability and “no-questions-asked” ransom payments have led to a dramatic rise in attacks on vessels by heavily armed Somali raiders in speedboats.

The Iran Deyanat was sailing in those waters on August 21, past the Horn of Africa and about 80 nautical miles southeast of Yemen, when it was boarded by about 40 pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades. They were alleged members of a crime syndicate said to be based at Eyl, a small fishing village in northern Somalia.

The ship is owned and operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL, a state-owned company run by the Iranian military.

According to the US Treasury Department, the IRISL regularly falsifies shipping documents to hide the identity of end users, uses generic terms to describe shipments and operates under various covers to circumvent United Nations sanctions.

The ship set sail from Nanjing, China, at the end of July. According to its manifest, it was heading for Rotterdam where it would unload 42500 tons of iron ore and “industrial products” purchased by a German client.

At Eyl, the ship was secured by more pirates — about 50 on board, and another 50 on shore.

But within days those who had boarded the ship developed mysterious health trouble.

This was also confirmed by Hassan Allore Osman, minister of minerals and oil in Puntland, an autonomous region of Somalia.

He headed a delegation sent to Eyl when news of the toxic cargo and illnesses surfaced.

He told one news publication, The Long War Journal, that during the six days he had negotiated with the pirates, a number of them had become sick and died.

“That ship is unusual,” he was quoted as saying. “It is not carrying a normal shipment.”

The pirates did reveal that they had tried to inspect the ship’s cargo containers when some of them fell sick — but the containers were locked.

Osman’s delegation spoke to the ship’s captain and its engineer by cellphone, demanding to know more about the cargo.

Initially it was claimed the cargo contained “crude oil”; later it was said to be “minerals”.

And Mwangura has added: “Our sources say it contains chemicals, dangerous chemicals.”

But IRISL has denied that — and threatened legal action against Mwangura. The company has reportedly paid the pirates 200000 — the first of several “ransom instalments”, but that, too, has been denied.

[Ray]

Great,

It killed the pirates and not the crew! :))