The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[Rifleman62]

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/national_world&id=7972780

WASHINGTON, D.C. - February 22, 2011 (WPVI) -- Officials with the Pentagon have announced 4 Americans held by pirates off the Somali coast were killed during negotiations today.

ABC News reported just after 9 a.m. that during negotiations between officials with the U.S. Navy and the pirates, gunfire was heard. When the captured boat was boarded, the four Americans were found dead.

The yacht Quest was hijacked on Friday off the coast of Oman, but is now in the waters between Yemen and northern Somalia, two pirates and a Somali government official told The Associated Press.

One pirate who gave his name only as Hassan said a warship with a helicopter on its deck is near the Quest.

Pirates have increased attacks on ships off the coast of East Africa, but Americans have rarely been targeted. The last attack against a U.S. crew - in 2009 - ended with Navy sharpshooters killing two pirates and rescuing the ship's captain.

The Quest is owned by Scott and Jean Adam, a couple from California. The Blue Water organizers also identified the other two Americans onboard as Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle. The NBC TV station in Seattle, Washington spelled the name as Phyllis Macay and said she and Riggle are from Seattle.

The Adams have been sailing the world with a yacht full of Bibles since 2004. The hijacking of their yacht came two days after a Somali pirate was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a New York court for the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. That case ended when Navy sharpshooters killed two pirates holding the ship's captain.

Pirates have increased attacks off the coast of East Africa in recent years despite an international flotilla of warships dedicated to protecting vessels and stopping the pirate assaults. Multimillion dollar ransoms are fueling the trade, and the prices for releasing a ship and hostages have risen sharply.

Pirates currently hold 30 ships and more than 660 hostages, not counting the attack against the Quest.

The best-known case of Westerners being held hostage in Somalia was that of Paul and Rachel Chandler, a British couple held for 388 days. The two, who were captured while sailing in their private yacht, were released in November.

The Adams - who are members of the Marina del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey, California - run a Bible ministry, according to their website, and have been distributing Bibles to schools and churches in remote villages in areas including the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia.

The pirates from Puntland in northern Somalia are not hardline Islamists and the fact the Adams carry Bibles is not likely to be a problem. Pirates in Puntland are known to spend their ransom spoils on alcohol, drugs and prostitutes.

Associated Press copy was used in this report.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Sorry, usually I do post the link. As far as the source, I pulled this directly from the BBC News website.  I will take head of what was mentioned though. Thanks for the heads up.

Here's some ways to do it:
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/40238/post-377907.html#msg377907
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/93265/post-925847.html#msg925847
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/95200/post-952848.html#msg952848
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/threads/99474/post-1019350.html#msg1019350

 

[jollyjacktar]

I am disgusted that 13 of the Pirates were detained....  they should be treated as Pirates always have been.  On sight.  I do wonder at what point will it come to for actions that these Pirates would understand will at last be allowed to be taken area, and when will these Lilly livered Politicians finally grow some nads.

 

[nuclearzombies]

Four US Citizens Killed by Pirates. Link to article here ---> http://ca.news.yahoo.com/four-americans-killed-pirated-yacht-off-somalia-report-20110222-061744-149.html

I was wondering how this episode would play out.

 

[OldSolduer]

It would not surprise me one bit to see pirates "disappear", never to be seen again. Maybe they do already.....just sayin....hypothetically.

 

[willellis]

Tragic. Funny that the UN said that they were dissatisfied with the way the pirate problem was being dealt with. Who knows, maybe more ships in the water, maybe just more verbal diarrhea.

 

[jollyjacktar]

It would not surprise me one bit to see pirates "disappear", never to be seen again. Maybe they do already.....just sayin....hypothetically.

hypothetically, I sure hope so.  Or at least a return to the "Q" ships to deal with them......

 

[Halifax Tar]

hypothetically, I sure hope so.  Or at least a return to the "Q" ships to deal with them......

Ahhh yes the "Q" ships or you will merchantmen simply start to arm  themselves again...

 

[jollyjacktar]

Q-ships, also known as Q-boats, Decoy Vessels, Special Service Ships or Mystery Ships, were heavily armed merchant ships with concealed weaponry, designed to lure submarines Pirates into making surface attacks. This gave Q-ships the chance to open fire and sink them. The basic ethos of every Q-ship was to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. 

They were used by the British Royal Navy (RN) during the First World War and by both the RN and the United States Navy during the Second World War (1939–1945), as a countermeasure against German U-boats and Japanese submarines. 

Pusser crews, not Civilian.  Hypothetically speaking of course.....

 

[OldSolduer]

Hypothetically do we think the USN may start doing just that???

 

[larry Strong]

Hypothetically do we think the USN may start doing just that???

Or conversly they will hopefully take them to the US and jail them like this one......

Shared in accordance with the "fair dealing" provisions, Section 29, of the Copyright Act.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41615693/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Pirate who 'wanted to kill Americans' gets 33 years for hijacking U.S. ship

NEW YORK — A Somali pirate who attacked a U.S.-flagged ship off the coast of Africa in 2009 was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison Wednesday by an emotional judge who said a long sentence was necessary to deter others and punish the only survivor among a group of pirates who "appeared to relish their most depraved acts."

U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska sometimes became choked up as she described the harm Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse brought to the crew aboard a merchant ship in the Indian Ocean.

She ordered Muse to serve 33 years and nine months in prison, rejecting a plea for leniency by his defense lawyers.

The tense standoff that ensued after Muse and his fellow pirates held the captain of the Maersk Alabama hostage after the April 8, 2009, attack ended when Navy sharpshooters killed three of Muse's men and freed the captain, Richard Phillips.

Muse pleaded guilty last year to federal charges in a prosecution that was part of a stepped-up effort to stem a wave of 21st-century piracy using 19th-century maritime laws.


Before he was sentenced, Muse said he was "very sorry for what I did."

"I got my hands into something that was more powerful than me," Muse said through a translator.

Preska rejected Muse's attempts to minimize or explain away his involvement and she noted that prosecutors had described the pirates as experienced, coordinated and ruthless.

"They appeared to relish even their most depraved acts of physical and psychological violence," she said, noting that the pirates had conducted a mock execution of the captain during the several days they held hostage.

Before the sentence was announced, 44-year-old crew member Colin Wright told the judge he was "not the same person I used to be and I never will be."

He complained that security still has not been improved much for ships traveling near Somalia.

"I'd like to see something done about that," he said.

Late last year, a Virginia jury found five other Somali men guilty of exchanging gunfire with a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa. Scholars called it the first piracy case to go to trial since 1861 during the Civil War, when a New York jury deadlocked on charges against 13 Southern privateers.

Aside from the novelty of his case, Muse became a curiosity because he defied swashbuckler stereotypes: The boyish, 5-foot-2 defendant has often looked bewildered in court and sometimes wept. Following his capture, his lawyers insisted he was 15 and should be tried as a juvenile; prosecutors convinced a judge he was at least 18.

The Maersk Alabama was boarded by the pirates as it transported humanitarian supplies about 280 miles off the coast of Somalia, an impoverished East African nation of about 10 million people.


Muse was the first to board the 500-foot ship, firing his AK-47 assault rifle at the captain, prosecutors said. He ordered Phillips to halt the vessel and then held him hostage on a sweltering, enclosed lifeboat that was soon shadowed by three U.S. warships and a helicopter.

The English-speaking Muse taunted Phillips by threatening to "bury him in a shallow area of the ocean" and by telling his captive he "liked having hijacked an American ship and wanted to kill Americans," the government's court papers said.

The siege ended when Navy sharpshooters on the USS Bainbridge picked off the three pirates in a stunning nighttime operation, leaving Phillips untouched.


.Somalis captured by international naval forces have been brought to several countries in Europe and Asia to face piracy charges. The Dutch navy captured five men last November trying to hijack a South African yacht, and they are now in custody in the Netherlands awaiting prosecution.

Last June, five other Somalis were convicted by a Dutch court of attacking a cargo ship in 2009 with automatic weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade and sentenced to five years. In the same month the Dutch extradited 10 alleged pirates to Germany to stand trial for trying to seize a German cargo ship.

Other criminal cases for piracy are under way in India, South Korea and Malaysia.

I figure that no country is about to start hanging pirates off of the yard arm any time soon.

 

[VIChris]

You might be right, but this guy's in for one hell of a ride when he gets to prison. Somehow I can't see life being too sweet for a small, boyish looking foreigner who allegedly relished the thought of killing Americans in Club Fed. He'll be hoping for a yard arm unless he can find some form of protection on the inside, be it protective custody or through a gang of like minded inmates.

 

[larry Strong]

I hope it comes close to the terror his victims went thru.

 

[jollyjacktar]

Oh I don't know about that.  Muse will find lots of support from the inmates who are Islamist bent inside.  There will be plenty of that sort of lowlife.

Jim, hypothetically speaking.  I could only hope so.  It would be a good start to a cure for the plague, if they started not coming home on a regular basis you would see it drop off as it did in the 17-18th centuries.  They would gravitate to safer forms of employment on land.  I could also only dream that we would get into the act too.  I know that if I pinched myself though I would wake up.

 

[willellis]

Oh I don't know about that.  Muse will find lots of support from the inmates who are Islamist bent inside.  There will be plenty of that sort of lowlife.

Possible, but I think it all comes down to wether or not he will be in the general population or protective custody.

Jim, hypothetically speaking.  I could only hope so.  It would be a good start to a cure for the plague, if they started not coming home on a regular basis you would see it drop off as it did in the 17-18th centuries.  They would gravitate to safer forms of employment on land.  I could also only dream that we would get into the act too.  I know that if I pinched myself though I would wake up.

Totally agree. What is the deterant for these people. On average, Somalis make $2 a day. If the start pirateing and are successful, they hit the jackpot. If they are not and go to jail, they get 3 squares a day everyday. Eitherway, they win.

 

[GAP]

What was the point of you quoting with no comment....if you have nothing to add, I do not want you using the forum to jack up your MilPoints....

 

[Edward Campbell]

What was the point of you quoting with no comment....if you have nothing to add, I do not want you using the forum to jack up your MilPoints....

I think he did comment but he doesn't know how to use the "quote" function - another of the perils of knowing to little and posting too much.

 

[larry Strong]

I don't know the law, however if the latest bunch are brought back to the US and charged with murder in a state that has the death penalty......and are able to enforce it. That could work as a deterrent

 

[GAP]

India Secures The Seychelles
February 26, 2011
Article Link

India is sending a Dornier 228 maritime reconnaissance aircraft to the island nation of Seychelles, to help in dealing with Somali pirates. This aircraft will remain for at least two years. Last year, India had offered to give Seychelles a Dornier 228 and two Chetak helicopters for anti-piracy duty, but tiny Seychelles preferred that India simply operate this equipment on their territory until the Somali piracy threat is gone. India has already sent a naval patrol boat and one Chetak helicopter to the Seychelles to help with anti-piracy patrol. Indian warships are also coming by more frequently.

The Seychelles islands have a total population of 85,000 and no military power to speak of. They are largely defenseless against pirates. So are many of the ships moving north and south off the East Coast of Africa. Three years ago, Somali pirates began operating as far east as the Seychelles, which are a group of 115 islands 1,500 kilometers from the east African coast. India is making this effort because the Somali pirates are a threat to Indian shipping and the Seychelles are a neighbor it wants to remain on good terms with. India has also pledged $5 million in other military aid for the Seychelles.

The Dornier 228 is a German passenger aircraft that India builds under license. It is a 6.6 ton, twin turboprop aircraft that the Indian Coast Guard uses for maritime reconnaissance, and is equipped with a surface search radar. India has 24 of these recon models. The Chetak is an Indian made, 2.2 ton helicopter that can carry a crew of two and five passengers. It is being phased out of Indian service.

The U.S. is already operating Reaper UAVs and P-3 maritime patrol aircraft on the Seychelles, to search for Somali pirates operating in the area. The 4.7 ton Reaper has a wingspan of 21.2 meters (66 feet) and a normal payload of 1.7 tons. It has a max speed of 400 kilometers an hour, but cruises at closer to 300. Reaper is considered a combat aircraft, because it normally carries over a ton of bombs or missiles. This includes the hundred pound Hellfire missile, and 500 pound laser or GPS guided smart bombs. By carrying no weapons at all, which is how the ones in the Seychelles will operate, they can stay in the air for over 24 hours at a time. The U.S. Air Force sent 75 airmen to the Seychelles to maintain the two or three Reapers that were based there. The operators, based in the United States, control the Reapers via a satellite link. This was the first time the Reaper was used for maritime reconnaissance. The manufacturer has been pushing the Reaper (which is three times heavier than the Predator) as a maritime reconnaissance aircraft, and this has been a realistic, and successful, test. A fully equipped, for maritime patrol, Reaper costs over $20 million each. Such a Reaper can spot ships below night and day, and has cameras that can zoom in on any ship or speedboat for a detailed video close up. A P-3 aircraft can only stay in the air for half as long as a Reaper, but carries more sensors and weapons. A P-3 also requires a larger ground crew, and more maintenance after each flight.
end of article

 

[nuclearzombies]

  They would gravitate to safer forms of employment on land.

I found that quite amusing! 


I don't think they'll give it up until it becomes unprofitable, or risk outweighs the desire. I still think the yardarm idea is the best one, though the Q-ship idea is really neat too.