Somali pirates raise ransom stakes
11th April 2011
Previously known for treating hostages relatively well, the pirate gangs have adopted a new ruthlessness to pressure ship owners into paying ever higher ransoms, which already total hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
Three months after he swapped them for a $5.4 million ransom, Budiga the Pirate still dances a wicked jig in the dreams of the crew of the Marida Marguerite. On some occasions, sailor Sandeep Dangwal remembers the day Budiga trussed him up on deck and tortured him. On others, he recalls the day Budiga stripped the ship’s captain naked and forced him into the deep freeze, or the time a fellow crewman was left to hang by his wrists from a 40-foot mast.
Two weeks ago, the Indian Navy launched an attack on another mother ship, a Mozambican trawler called the Vega 5, arresting some 61 pirates and rescuing 13 hijacked crew members. But up to a dozen others still remain operational, despite the multi-national fleet knowing where they are. European naval commanders insist that attacking them carries too much risk of hostages getting killed, however, such is the threat that the shipping industry says only a “military solution” is now practical. (Emphasis added to underline the fecklessness of ‘civilized’ governments.)