Friday, January 09, 2009

Ransom Paid for Captured Saudi Oil Tanker

Predictable.

Somali pirates freed a Saudi supertanker seized in the world’s biggest ship hijacking for a $3 million ransom on Friday, an associate of the gang said.

The capture of the Sirius Star and its $100 million cargo of crude in November drew attention to a surge in piracy off Somalia that has brought global navies rushing to protect one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

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(4) Comments
Posted by Owen at 2007 hrs
Foreign Affairs

  1. So the Pirate business can be pretty profitable in a short period of time??  Anybody know if the government has any business incentives or start up funds if I want to start a pirate business.  3 mill a couple of times a year isn’t bad.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 09, 2009 at 2259 hrs


  2. Now the story is saying five pirates drowned trying to get in their boat and leave the ship.  What I’m not understanding is why we couldn’t blast those boats out of the water the minute they depart the tanker?

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 10, 2009 at 0005 hrs


  3. Somehow, Steve, I kind of think the boat had a little help sinking.  Can’t prove it, but…
    But on the bright side, 5 less pirates is a good thing.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 10, 2009 at 1314 hrs


  4. With all the money at risk, why the heck don’t the owners of these supertankers put a team of mercenaries armed with rocket launchers on board? It would only take a few cases of a hijacker’s boat being turned into bloody foam in the water before the other hijackers realize you don’t mess with this or that tanker.

    Even better, if the hijacker’s don’t take the hint, we’ll soon run out of hijackers.

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on January 11, 2009 at 1139 hrs


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