WORLD> Africa
|
WORLD> Africa
|
|
Report: Somali pirates rake in up to $30M in 2008
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-02 21:22 Piracy in 2008 has more than doubled from the previous year, with over 60 attempted attacks or successful hijacks reported. Most pirate attacks occur in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, north of Somalia. But recently pirates have been targeting Indian Ocean waters off eastern Somalia. In a separate report Thursday, a Danish intelligence company specializing in maritime security said there has been a dramatic increase in the number of seamen held by Somali pirates in September. Risk Intelligence said pirates held 374 people captive after raids off the Horn of Africa last month. That compares with 292 hostages in all of 2007. Company manager Hans Tino Hansen says the Somali pirates make an average of $1 million per hijacked vessel and hold freighters for an average of five weeks before freeing them. The Navy says two other pirated cargo ships are anchored in the same area as the Faina. On Wednesday, at least eight European Union countries offered to form a new force to help protect shipping off Somalia -- a move that eventually could give the US Navy crucial support in the area. The Bahrain-based spokesman of the US 5th Fleet, Lt. Nathan Christensen, hailed the EU move as "a step in the right direction." He said the Navy got reports of three failed attacks Thursday in the Gulf of Aden. Despite the Somali government's authorization to use force against the pirates, US Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to comment on any possible military operations In the past, the US military has launched air strikes in Somalia and is known to have secretly sent special forces into Somalia to go after militants linked to al-Qaida. |
