C-level Maritime’s Frodl said the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) carried out reviews of all potential ransom payments to determine if the pirate group in question had ever handed over part of a ransom to al Shabaab.
“Most times OFAC has authorized payment because it has found no link,” Frodl said. “But if there is indeed a 20% ’tax’ being applied by Shabaab against pirate ransoms in Haradhere, a major pirate hub it now controls, then things could change.”
Boy, this is very interesting if true. The consequences could mean that the payment of ransoms would be illegal, because that money would be funding terrorism. Although I have already talked about the jihadist privateer concept awhile back, so it does not surprise me that there would be a connection between Al Shabab and pirates.
It is just one way to fund their jihad, and it also helps the pirates be effective by supplying weapons and safe haven. 20 % is also a pretty sizable chunk. Eventually I would imagine that the pirates would port somewhere else to avoid this jihad tax, or that Al Shabab would get into the business to cut out the non-affiliated pirate middle men. Interesting stuff. –Matt
Piracy ransoms funnelled to Islamist militants: U.N.
Jul 6, 2011
By Richard Lough funnelled
Ransoms paid to Somali pirates to free merchant vessels are ending up in the hands of Islamist militants, laying shipping groups open to accusations of breaching international sanctions, U.N. officials told Reuters.
John Steed, the principal military adviser to the U.N. special envoy to Somalia and head of the envoy’s counter-piracy unit, said links between armed pirate gangs and Somalia’s al Qaeda-affiliated rebels were gradually firming.
“The payment of ransoms just like any other funding activity, illegal or otherwise, is technically in breach of the Somalia sanctions regime if it makes the security situation in Somalia worse,” said Steed.
“Especially if it is ending up in the hands of terrorists or militia leaders — and we believe it is, some directly, some more indirectly,” said Steed, a retired military officer.