Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Somali Pirates Back in Business

The Associated Press published on 14 March 2017 an article titled "Pirates Hijack Freighter off Somalia's Coast, Officials Say" by Abdi Guled and Jon Gambrel.

Somali pirates succeeded in capturing their first large commercial vessel since the last successful hijacking in 2012. The ship was carrying fuel from Djibouti to Mogadishu. It had 8 Sri Lankan crew members who are now being held for ransom off the coast of Puntland. It was flying the flag of Sri Lanka, Liberia, or the Comoro Islands. The owners are connected to Greece or the UAE. The big question is whether this incident portends the return of pirate attacks off Somalia after a lapse of several years.