Tag: hijacking

Somali pirates burned more than 1 million copies of his book when they hijacked an American yacht The author of a novel about a man involved with fraud says in a court filing that Somali pirates burned more than 1 million copies of his book when they hijacked an American yacht.Darren Keys is seeking to be recognized as a victim of 14 men charged with piracy in the hijacking of the yacht Quest, which resulted in the deaths of all four Americans on board.In a handwritten filing, Keys says the Quest was a shipping vessel carrying his novel from New York to Iran and that the pirates demanded $10 million for his books. The Quest is a 58-foot yacht whose retired owners had been sailing around the world, often delivering Bibles.A hearing on Keys' motion is scheduled on Thursday in federal court.Source: AP

Pirate attacks are increasing but the number of successful hijackings is on the wane - the reasons Life is getting tougher for the pirates off the coast of Somalia. Last week, the Royal Navy foiled an attack by a group on a Spanish fishing boat in the Indian Ocean.After being alerted to the threat, the Lynx helicopter from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort Victoria ship gave chase to a skiff, manned by pirates, that sped from the scene.The gang was apprehended after a sniper on board the helicopter fired warning shots ahead of their boat.But ships, helicopters, sniffer dogs and rifles are not the only weapons being used to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Suspected pirates are now being hauled before the courts.The seven suspects captured by the Navy were transferred to the Seychelles to stand trial. Their case will be the first heard there since Britain signed an agreement with the island state to transfer pirates.Through Nato's counter-piracy operation, Fort Victoria is used specifically to fight the problem and was involved in the apprehension of 11 suspected pirates in October when the Italian ship, Montecristo, was held with 23 hostages on board.Crucially, the crew locked themselves in ...

They apologized to the husband-and-wife crew they're charged with having taken hostage Six Somali men being tried in a Paris court for allegedly hijacking a sailboat have apologized to the husband-and-wife crew they're charged with having taken hostage.In remarks Wednesday, one of the men wished the couple a long life, while another asked for forgiveness.The couple, Jean-Yves and Bernadette Delanne, shook hands with the defendants before the court adjourned. A verdict in the case is expected later Wednesday.The prosecutor asked the court to sentence the men to between six and 16 years in prison.The Delannes were en route to France from Australia when their sailboat, Carre d'As, was boarded Sept. 2, 2008. French navy commandos raided the vessel two weeks later, killing one captor and detaining six others.Source: AP

Six Somali men appeared in a Paris court facing e imprisonment over charges of hijacking

15 Filipinos ohave been released An Italian merchant ship hijacked by Somali pirates in April in the Arabian Sea near Oman with six Italians and 15 Filipinos on board has been freed, Italian news media reported.The 225-metre (738-foot) Rosalia D'Amato - owned by Naples-based shipper Perseveranza - had been sailing from Brazil to Iran with a cargo of soybeans and came under fire from its attackers when it was taken on April 21.La Repubblica daily reported that the ship was currently on its way to "a safe area" and said that a ransom had been paid. Pirates had initially demanded $22 million (16.6 million euros) to free the ship."The negotiations yielded a deal over the past few days. Very few details are available on this operation and the amount of the ransom is unknown," La Repubblica said."The vessel has probably turned on its engines and sailing away from the spot where it was held. To guarantee its full freedom, it needs to sail to a safe area first and be met by one of the naval vessels patrolling the region," it added.A representative of Perseveranza told AFP she could not confirm or deny the reports but the Italian foreign ministry ...

A need for joining forces in order to fight piracy off Indian Ocean Co-operation among countries with interests in the Indian Ocean is essential to effectively fight Somali piracy against merchant ships which could threaten trade if unchecked, a Sri Lanka defence official said."It is our belief that the lasting solution to threats of this nature cannot be undertaken by individual nations in isolation, but only through greater international cooperation," declared Gotabaya Rajapaksa, secretary to Sri Lanka's defence ministry.Steps taken by ship owners against hijackings of merchant vessels have been seen to be largely ineffective, he told the "Galle Dialogue" Maritime Conference which opened Monday in the southern port town of Galle.And interventions made by individual nations in providing greater protection for merchant vessels have not been uniform, he said.Military officers and academics from 19 countries are taking part in the forum, which was initiated in 2010 by Sri Lanka to help foster cooperation between nations interested in the security of the Indian Ocean region."In the present era, the increasing sophistication of criminal networks and non-state actors makes it difficult for individual nations to withstand the threats posed by them if they stand alone," Rajapaksa said."That is why Sri Lanka, ...

MV Ablida freed after a $2.6 milion An Algerian ship released after it was hijacked by pirates in January docked in Malindi after developing mechanical problems. Stricken MV Ablida freed after a $2.6 milion (about Sh225 million) was handed over the criminals was from Salala port in Omani to Mombasa when the mechanical hitch happened.The crew members on board had to be substituted with others forcing government authorities to process emergency passes for the crew members leaving and those who were checking out of the ship as they did not have as any documents allowing to be in the country.Majority of the crew members in the ship were from Ukraine while others were from Indonesia, Philippines Algeria Pakistan and Iran. Security was beefed up at the Malindi jetty as plans to inspect the ship and the crew were put in place yesterday evening.Embassy officials from the countries represented had to drive to Mombasa urgently to sort out with Kenyan authorities the clearance of the crew members to enable them travel by air after staying in the ocean for nearly a year.Andrew Mwangura from the seafarers association told journalists at the jetty that the ship belonging to Algerian government was carrying ...

Charges of hijacking, kidnapping and armed robbery of a French couple's in 2008 Six Somali men accused of taking a French couple hostage on their yacht went on trial in Paris on Tuesday in France's first prosecution of alleged Somali pirates.They are facing charges of hijacking, kidnapping and armed robbery after they allegedly seized the yacht and its crew, Jean-Yves Delanne and his wife Bernadette, both aged 60, off the coast of Somalia in 2008.They face life in prison if convicted.The six, aged between 21 and 35, were captured and flown to France after French special forces stormed the yacht, the Carre d'As IV, and rescued the couple. A seventh suspect was killed in the raid.Journalists were allowed into the court for the start of the trial but judges are expected to later close the hearings to the public because one of the suspects was a minor at the time of the crime.The suspects had reportedly demanded a ransom of $2 million (1.5 million) for the couple's release.Their case marks the first time France has put alleged Somali pirates on trial. Somali suspects in three other cases are currently awaiting trial.Dozens of ships, mainly merchant vessels, have been seized by ...

The 24 passengers and crew were unhurt. Istanbul's governor confirms a lone hijacker was killed by security forces after taking over a ferry off the coast of Turkey.Turkish security forces shot dead a suspected Kurdish rebel early Saturday to end a 12-hour hostage drama on a small passenger ferry, and later reported that he was wearing fake explosives.They killed the man in a predawn lightning raid on the Kartepe ferry, which was anchored off the port town of Silivri, west of Istanbul, after running out of fuel. The 24 passengers and crew were unhurt.Naval commandos and anti-terror police stormed the ferry just before sunrise on Saturday, instantly killing the hijacker without any return of fire, said Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu of Istanbul province.Mutlu told reporters: "We decided to conduct the operation around 0535am local time and shortly after the start of the operation, the vessel was boarded and the assailant was killed."From the contacts we made with the assailant, it was clear that he was a terror group member. I can clearly say that."Although they have not claimed responsibility for the hijacking, it is thought that the main Kurdish rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK are behind the ...

The number of hijackings is down - Pirates have only seized 24 ships so far in 2011 Attacks on shipping by increasingly sophisticated Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean reached record levels in the first nine months of the year, the International Maritime Bureau says.Indian shipowners, who have been increasingly hit as pirates have extended their raids up to 1,500 nautical miles east of the gulf, deep into the India Ocean, say the piracy scourge is costing the global shipping industry more than $9 billion a year.U.S. risk management company Aon reports there has been a 267 percent year-on-year increase in attacks in the Arabian Sea.The attacks are carried out mainly by Somali pirates.IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan says there were 352 attacks on shipping worldwide in the January-September period, up from 289 in the first nine months of 2010."But what's significant," he said, "is that the number of hijackings is down."Pirates have only seized 24 ships so far in 2011, compared to 35 in the equivalent period last year. This has been attributed to more vigorous action by naval forces -- and more ships carrying armed guards, a practice once considered too provocative to be ...