Thursday, February 5, 2009

Somali Pirates 'have Been Paid $3.2m' for Ship Carrying Soviet Tanks

Captors have agreed to release Ukrainian vessel, says intermediary

Somali pirates have been paid a $3.2m ransom for the release of a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 Soviet-era tanks.

A Somali intermediary who helped negotiate the deal told Reuters the armed gang that seized the vessel, the MV Faina, in September with its crew of 20 would release it within hours. "The pirates are still on the ship dividing the money," the man, who asked not to be named, said in the Somali port of Haradheere. The report was not confirmed by any independent source.

The hijacking of the ship by about 50 pirates calling themselves the Central Regional Coast Guard drew international attention because of a row over the destination of the Soviet T-72 tanks and other weapons on board. Kenya claimed to have bought them for its army but the pirates said they had found documents on board showing that the tanks were illicitly bound for southern Sudan. The US navy backed the pirates' version.

The pirates initially demanded $35m but the ransom was whittled back over months. During the standoff, six American warships surrounded the seized vessel to ensure the weapons were not taken elsewhere in the volatile region.

There are believed to be a handful of pirate gangs of several hundred members, each operating speed boats up to 500 miles from the Somali coast.

The MV Faina was one of 42 ships seized by Somali pirates last year, forcing some shipping lines to reroute vessels that would have used the Suez canal to take much longer journeys around southern Africa and others to put armed guards on board.

Foreign governments responded by deploying more than 20 warships from more than a dozen countries ? including Russia, China, France and India ? to patrol sea lanes in the Gulf of Aden and parts of the Indian Ocean through which about 16,000 ships pass each year. So far three ships have been seized this year and pirates were driven off in 14 cases. Scores of pirates have been arrested.

Last month, pirates extracted millions of dollars for the release of a Saudi supertanker, the Sirius Star, hijacked 450 miles out to sea in November carrying about $100m worth of oil. Three of the pirates drowned after their boat capsized as they headed to shore with their cut of the ransom money.

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