S.P.E.C.T.R.E Like Organization behind Somali Piracy

I had posted last month about: Crime Sydicates Running Somali Piracy. In The Independent article cited, they mentioned:

Front organisations are believed to have signed up to the Lloyd's List ship movement database, and sources such as Jane's Intelligence, to ascertain protective measures being undertaken by the shippers.

The Guardian follows up on the British connection in this piece by Giles Tremlett:

In each case, according to the report, the pirates had full knowledge of the cargo, nationality and course of the vessel.

It is not clear who these ­"consultants" were, but Dincel believes they may work inside the industry. "They knew the ­vessel, they knew the cargo, they knew the loading ports, they knew the destination, they knew everything," he said. "The knew their job."

Andrew Mwangura, who heads the East African's Seafarer's Assistance Programme, a piracy monitoring group based in Mombassa, Kenya, said negotiations over hijacked ships often involve Somalis in London. "Not only for the Karagöl, but for many other ships, the negotiations involve people in London," he said.

This is a fascinating international conspiracy. The UK press are leading the way to uncovering it. If you watch the news you tend to think of it as rinky-dink bandits hijacking whatever they happen to come across. Not so, it is very organized.

Note: S.P.E.C.T.R.E is a crime organization from James Bond novels. Dr. No and Ernst Stavro Blofeld were members. They were highly organized and not attached to any national loyalty. It stands for: Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.

Crime Syndicates Running Somali Piracy

The Independent has a fascinating article about the filthy lucre in modern piracy. Syndicates control it and it reminds me of S.P.E.C.T.R.E from James Bond novels. (Read the full article here)

The security company Idarat Maritime, which specialises in maritime protection, is working with leading Lloyd's underwriters to formulate safeguards for shippers. Christopher Ledger, a former Royal Marine officer and a director of the firm, said: "There is evidence that syndicates based in the Gulf – some in Dubai – play a significant role in the piracy which is taking place off the African coast. There are huge amounts of money involved and this gives the syndicates access to increasingly sophisticated means of moving money as well as access to modern technology in carrying out the hijackings. This is an international problem and the shipping companies need to ensure that their crews learn how to deal with it."

Investigators have discovered that the pirate gangs are exploiting information available to the shipping industry to plan their attacks. Front organisations are believed to have signed up to the Lloyd's List ship movement database, and sources such as Jane's Intelligence, to ascertain protective measures being undertaken by the shippers. In addition they have bought equipment to monitor radio traffic.

A few well-funded pirate syndicates have experimented with a "stealth" paint such as AR 1, invented by a German scientist living in the UAE, which is credited with making boats difficult to spot via the long-range radar of cargo liners.

It is not clear whether the use of the paint has been effective in helping hijackings, but its use, say the security companies, shows that the pirates are seeking out advanced technology and have the means to acquire it.

Andrew Mwangura, a piracy expert in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, says the gun-wielding Somalis who are fighting and dying in the hijackings are the just the front men of larger syndicates. "They are just the small fish. The big sharks operate out of places like Dubai, Nairobi and Mombasa," he said.

It's articles like this that make me fear the collapse of newspapers. This is fantastic journalism. Bloggers don't have the reach, nor the resources to pull this off. Kudos to The Independent.

Why Can't We Do a Better Job Fighting Pirates?

Mark Steyn makes some sense of how these piddling Somali pirates manage to get away with these major high jackings:

It's also a low-risk [task for the pirates] one. Once upon a time we killed and captured pirates. Today, it's all more complicated. Attorney General Eric Holder has declined to say whether the kidnappers of the American captain will be "brought to justice" by the U.S. "I'm not sure exactly what would happen next," declares the chief law-enforcement official of the world's superpower. But some things we can say for certain. Obviously, if the United States Navy hanged some eye-patched, peg-legged blackguard from the yardarm or made him walk the plank, pious senators would rise to denounce an America that no longer lived up to its highest ideals, and the network talking-heads would argue that Plankgate was recruiting more and more young men to the pirates' cause, and judges would rule that pirates were entitled to the protections of the U.S. Constitution and that their peg legs had to be replaced by high-tech prosthetic limbs at taxpayer expense.

Meanwhile, the Royal Navy, which over the centuries did more than anyone to rid the civilized world of the menace of piracy, now declines even to risk capturing their Somali successors, having been advised by Her Majesty's Government that, under the European Human Rights Act, any pirate taken into custody would be entitled to claim refugee status in the United Kingdom and live on welfare for the rest of his life. I doubt "Pirates of the Caribbean" would have cleaned up at the box office if the big finale had shown Geoffrey Rush and his crew of scurvy sea dogs settling down in council flats in Manchester and going down to the pub for a couple of jiggers of rum washed down to cries of "Aaaaargh, shiver me benefits check, lad." From "Avast, me hearties!" to a vast welfare scam is not progress.

If the ships plying the waters of that region would carry a few Gatling guns, with orders to shoot to kill any motorboat that gets within a certain range, I believe the piracy problem would evaporate. However, as Steyn points out, there are all kinds of legal complications western nations have imposed on themselves.

I can also imagine a situation where one of the Somali pirates had Canadian citizenship and got killed the Toronto Star, CBC and the NDP would be screaming about the injustice of it all. (A la Khadr.) It's clear that our western societies have become too soft.

UPDATE: Good news the American Captain was rescued from the pirates

An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday and three of his captors were killed in a daring rescue by U.S. Navy Seals that ended a five-day standoff between the world's most powerful Navy and Somali pirates in a lifeboat far off the Horn of Africa.

Capt. Richard Phillips was in "imminent danger" of being killed before U.S. Special Operations forces shot the pirates in an operation personally approved by President Barack Obama, U.S. officials said.

Former Ottawan Harbours Pirates

In despair after the Rough Riders folded, Mohamud Muse Hersi went back to Somalia. (article)

Hersi emigrated to Canada in the 1980s, bought a gas station and raised a family, but his clan connections to Somalia remained strong. When the elders of Puntland were looking for a new president in 2005, they chose Hersi.

There are about a dozen hijacked ships anchored off the Puntland coast at the moment, waiting as the pirates and shipowners haggle over ransom money.

Hersi's critics accuse him and his ministers of taking bribes from the pirates to look the other way.

UPDATE: The Ottawa Citzen has more details. They mention that he owned a Richmond Road gas station. I wish they would say which one. When I was in high school, I worked pumping gas on Richmond Road.

A Bluff?

Somalian pirates are all over the news in recent weeks. I've been wondering why various high-tech navies in the region can't do anything about it? This segment from the Times of London, about the massive Saudi oil tanker that had been hijacked, had me wondering:

None of the governments that have sent warships to the region seems willing to use force to free the supertanker, preferring instead to see the matter settled by ransom negotiations. Both the US Navy Seals and Britain’s M Squadron, the Special Boat Service’s maritime counter-terrorist unit, have the expertise and training to infiltrate a hijacked ship covertly. “The risks are just too great,” said Lee Willett, a maritime security expert at the Royal United Services Institute. “I don’t think there is a real military option. It’s now more a matter of negotiating the size of the ransom.”

This sounds to me like a massive bluff. "Negotiating the size of the ransom?" Bull. If you are going to go in, you don't warn them in advance.

UPDATE: Pirates enjoy lavish lifestyle on the new Barbary Coast.

Royal Navy in Firefight

Last year when Iran captured eight British sailors, including a woman, in pathetic looking rubber dingys, you had to think it was the lowest point in the history of the proud organization. Nelson, up above somewhere, was once again holding up the telescope to his blind eye so as not to view that disgrace.

But if the sailors are allowed to do their jobs, as we see here, the dingys can be effective. (Story)

In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.

Hat tip: Fydor

UPDATE: When speaking of rubber dingys, I couldn't help but think of the Rowan Atkins' Barclay Card commercials they used to show when I was in England. (See here youtube) In the UK the commercials are often better than the programing.