Somali piracy thread

[bengalraider]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 831652.ece

Somali pirates land Russian tanks in surprise haul

Rob Crilly, Nairobi
The pirates would hardly have been able to believe their eyes as they inspected the hold of their latest conquest, the Faina.

The Ukrainian vessel was heading for the Kenyan port of Mombasa loaded down with rocket-propelled grenades, anti-aircraft guns and 30 Russian T-72 tanks.
“They really hit the jackpot this time,” said a regional arms expert. “There is not much they can do with the tanks, but the RPGs and the Zu-23 anti-aircraft guns will soon find their way into Somalia’s arms markets.

“These are the sort of weapons that fighters in Somalia really like.”

Almost 60 vessels have been attacked this year as armed gangs of pirates plunder the seas off Somalia.

Its 2,300-mile coastline offers rich pickings for the modern-day buccaneers, who use AK-47s and RPGs rather than the cutlasses and flintlock pistols of romantic imagination.

In a country already awash with weapons, yesterday’s haul will only worsen a bloody conflict that has escalated in the past month as Islamist insurgents battle government troops and their Ethiopian allies.

An international coalition of navies has so far failed to stem the trade, which brings in as much as $1.5 million (£800,000) per ship.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said today that the Faina’s captain had radioed maritime authorities to say that three cutters with armed men were approaching his vessel at high speed before communications were lost. Her cargo was destined for South Sudan’s government.
It brings the number of ships held by the buccaneers to 14, with 300 crew members held hostage.

They are being held around the tiny fishing village of Eyl in Puntland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia.

At times it seems as if the pirates can act with impunity. Earlier this week the Danish navy freed 10 pirates it had captured at sea, saying they had insufficient evidence to prosecute them.

But at the same time French officials have filed preliminary charges of hijacking and kidnapping against six suspected pirates captured earlier this month. Commandos snatched the six in a daring raid to free a French couple seized as they sailed their yacht along the Somali coast towards the Suez Canal.

They are currently awaiting trial in a French prison. Six naval vessels are currently patrolling the waters around the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean as part of an international task force to tackle piracy.

However commercial shipping companies have criticised the mission for failing to make a difference.

Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for Combined Task Force 150, based in Bahrain, said that the naval vessels were having an impact since setting up a safe corridor for shipping four weeks ago.

“We have deterred pirate attacks – 12 in the past month – so we are having an impact,” he said.

“But this is an international problem and needs an international solution. It will take more than the six or seven ships we have in 2.4m square miles of sea.”

Meanwhile, the Canadian navy has said that it will continue to escort emergency shipments of food into Mogadishu.

Its frigate, HMCS Ville de Quebec, was due to return to the Mediterranean tomorrow but will spend another month ensuring that desperately needed supplies can reach Somalia.

The World Food Programme of the United Nations had given warning that its deliveries would cease if an escort could not be found.

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

anyways no evidence! the danes really need a better lawyer.

[Guest]

It is

I presume it is another way of stating that the cost of fuel has made the Navy dock bound! :))

haha! how about lending your artillery towing mules!!

[Knjaz]

According to Ukrainian MoD, there are 33 tanks, enough ammunition for them and grenade launchers on this ship.
Also, there was some information about spare parts too. If so, pirates just need to find some1 who has fuel and manpower to operate these tanks - although the current location of the ship is known.

[Dreadnought]

Gentlemen, Let me make myself clear.
I do not frown upon your up and coming Navy and her blue water aspirations. I think its a very positive move in the right direction. What I do frown upon is the amount of "red tape" and the amount of time it takes to get things done. I do realize that India is only respecting the right of other countries and their boundaries but one much needed shot in the arm for your navy will be the choice to give the "man on the scene" CO, Commander or other who happens to find himself and his ship in such a position to make the choice of intervening. So long as it would not be constrewed as an act of open war. IMO trust in the man you have on the scene to make that decision not in the man behind the desk who has politics to satisfy. You will save alot of your own sailors lives in the future if you trust in the men that have earned that right to be called the CO. It may also build confidence in your navy from those whose ships you may have rescued from groups intending to use their cargos in a terrorist fashion. Countries/Military's friendships and trust are built this way.;)

[Dreadnought]

According to Ukrainian MoD, there are 33 tanks, enough ammunition for them and grenade launchers on this ship.
Also, there was some information about spare parts too. If so, pirates just need to find some1 who has fuel and manpower to operate these tanks - although the current location of the ship is known.

And their location known as well as soon as they start to unload via satellite.
Dont think for a moment that they arent being watched 24/7.;)

[Guest]

one much needed shot in the arm for your navy will be the choice to give the "man on the scene" CO, Commander or other who happens to find himself and his ship in such a position to make the choice of intervening.

Indian's own Jack D. Ripper.. no disrespect to Indian Armed force professional here.. what I find is majority Indians despise their armed forces. liberal ****-bags if I can call them (self encored)

[Dago]

Like another person said, they knew exactly what was in the hold, and the likelyhood that they would go into this alone and without the plan of unloading the cargo and them being confident in them being able too deliver them is probable. I'm not aware of Somalia, and the warlords, and how they would go about unloading this container ship but you can bet that every Intel assets are monitoring this very very closely.

[Equalizert]

And their location known as well as soon as they start to unload via satellite.
Dont think for a moment that they arent being watched 24/7.;)

But what is done to get the tanks back ?

-Equalizer T-

[Parihaka]

Can somebody tell me when the idiocy of merchant marine not being allowed to be armed was introduced?

[ArmchairGeneral]

"There is not much they can do with the tanks..."

Ebay!

[dave lukins]

But what is done to get the tanks back ?

-Equalizer T-

Nothing...It's now the Insurance policy that comes into effect. If "Piracy" is not in the small print..and guess what.. it's not.. then the Insurance will not pay out. As the Area is a known Piracy Area and the vessels were not escorted, then the chances of a pay-out is slim. Disasters at Sea, as tragic as they are, are always followed by the ringing of the Listine Bell. Piracy on the High Seas should be followed by the ringing of the necks.

[cyppok]

Somali Pirates Sieze ship Carrying TANKS

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/wo...=5070&emc=eta1

Somali Pirates Seize Ukraine Ship Carrying Tanks
NAIROBI, Kenya — For a moment, the pirates must have thought that they had really struck gold — Somalia-style.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Times Topics: Piracy at Sea

The gun-toting, seafaring thieves, who routinely pounce on cargo ships bobbing along on the Indian Ocean, suddenly found themselves in command of a vessel crammed with $30 million worth of grenade launchers, piles of ammunition, even battle tanks.

But this time, they might have gotten far more than they bargained for. Unlike so many other hijackings off the coast of Somalia that have gone virtually unnoticed — and unpunished — the attack Thursday evening on the Faina, a Ukrainian vessel bringing military equipment to Kenya, has provoked the wrath of two of the most powerful militaries on the planet.

The United States Navy was in hot pursuit of the ship on Friday. And the Russians were not far behind.

“This is really getting out of control,” said Mohamed Osman Aden, a Somali diplomat in Kenya. “You see how many countries are involved now? These pirates aren’t going to get away with this.”

Somalia’s 1,880-mile coastline is crawling with pirates, a serious problem given that so much of the country is dependent on emergency food aid, which comes mostly by ship.

The pirates are highly organized. They work in teams. There is even a pirate spokesman (who could not be reached for comment on Friday).

They seem to strike with increasing impunity, grabbing everything from sailing yachts to oil tankers. They then usually demand millions of dollars in ransom for the ships and their crews.

And people usually pay — a response that Somali and Western officials say is fueling the problem. This year is one of the worst on record, with more than 50 ships attacked, 25 hijacked and at least 14 currently being held by pirates. The waters off Somalia are now considered the most dangerous in the world.

As for the Faina, it might have looked like the kind of slow-moving, easy prey that pirates have hit time and time again. But its booty is not the kind that can be easily pawned off at port.

Each Soviet-designed T-72 tank weighs more than 80,000 pounds. The pirates would need special know-how, not to mention special equipment, to unload them — assuming, of course, that they could make it to port with the Navy on their tail.

Somalia’s pirates are typically former fishermen who have turned to the more lucrative work of plying the seas with binoculars and rocket-propelled grenades. They travel in light speedboats, deployed from a mother ship far out at sea, and they have attacked tankers as far as 300 miles from the coast. Pirates even tried to attack an American naval supply ship this week. The ship fired warning shots at them. The pirates sped away.

“These pirates are getting bolder ever day,” said Andrew Mwangura, the program coordinator of the Seafarers’ Assistance Program in Kenya, which tracks pirate attacks.

Somali officials say the pirates are growing in numbers, with more than 1,000 gunmen at their disposal, and they have evolved into a sophisticated organized crime ring, with their headquarters along the rocky shores of northern Somalia.

One official close to the Somali government described the pirates as an oceanic “mafia” and said they had netted millions of dollars, which they use to buy fancy cars and big houses.

“Paying the ransoms is just making this worse,” said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Mr. Mohamed, the Somali diplomat, said: “This is not a Somali problem. This is an international problem. Shipping across this entire region is imperiled by this.”

Western countries have tried to crack down on piracy, with different navies patrolling the waters and escorting United Nations-chartered ships transporting much-needed food to Somalia. Twice this year, French commandos battled with pirates who hijacked French yachts.

On Friday, Kenyan and Western officials said that an American warship was steaming toward the hijacked ship to intercept it, and the Russian Navy announced that it, too, was sending a warship, named the Dauntless. This could lead to a showdown with the pirates in the middle of the Indian Ocean. With that many hostages aboard a floating ammunition depot, things could get complicated.

The $30 million in Ukrainian arms were bought by the Kenyan government, one of America’s closest allies in Africa.

“This is a big loss for us,” said Alfred Mutua, a spokesman for the Kenyan government.

(this is just part of the article from the first page.)
I assume that Kenya already paid for the tanks. Ouch...

[Stitch]

Ebay!

Actually, they could probably sell them to the Chinese, no questions asked.

[VarSity]

This is comedy gold!

Im sure there is someone in Africa who will buy those tanks.

[The Black Ghost]

Unless they can sell them to the rebels in Somalia fairly quickly, their prize wont be much use. Also whoever buys them has to worry about getting people who know how to use the equipment, and also hiding it somewhere out of reach of airstrikes and military assualt.