Feral Jundi

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Maritime Security: UN Reports That Piracy Ransoms Are Being Funnelled To Islamist Militants

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.

(more…)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Funny Stuff: Somali Pirates Cut Ransoms To Clear Hijacked Ships

This is a little old and I am surprised I missed this. But better late than never. I think this speaks volumes as to how bad this piracy thing really is.  We have all the navies of the world, expending millions of dollars every day in hunting pirates and trying to put a stop to this thing–and these pirates are more successful than ever. This is an example of how effective an Offense Industry can be.  These pirates have an incentive to attack commerce, and despite all the threats to their operations, they continue to thrive.

Also, to clarify here, I despise these criminals. I do not think that hostage taking/killing/torturing or piracy itself is funny.  If anything, I am laughing at our pathetic response to this scourge. I would like to cheer on the modern nations of the world in eradicating this problem, but it’s hard to do that when the pirates are this successful. Ridiculously successful matter of fact. They are achieving results with their ever evolving offense industry, and the rest of the modern world just falters. In this case, you just have to laugh at this one. –Matt

Somali pirates cut ransoms to clear hijacked ships
By Mohamed Ahmed and Abdi sheikh
Sunday March 13, 2011
Somali pirates said on Sunday they would lower some of their ransom demands to get a faster turnover of ships they hijack in the Indian Ocean.
Armed pirate gangs, who have made millions of dollars capturing ships as far south as the Seychelles and eastwards towards India, said they were holding too many vessels and needed a quicker handover to generate more income.
“I believe there is no excuse for taking high ransoms. At least each of our groups holds ships now,” pirate Hussein told Reuters from Hobyo on the Somalian coast. He said the pirates were holding more than 30 ships at the moment.

(more…)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Kidnap And Ransom: Pemex Executive Kidnapping Rattles Mexico Oil Industry

   Between the kidnappings and the pilfering of the oil by cartels, Pemex has some issues.  Just one suggestion for Pemex, and that is if you want to retain some of that oil and stop paying ransoms, then make the investment in a competent security company to protect your stuff and people.  You can buy some pretty kick ass security for well under the 750 million dollars that you are losing every year (on top of what ever you are paying for in ransoms). –Matt

Edit: 5/20/2010 – Check out this story about former Mexican presidential candidate that was kidnapped recently.

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Pemex exec kidnapping rattles Mexico oil industry

May 11 2010

By Robert Campbell

Driving home along rough, poorly lit roads to the southern Mexican city of Villahermosa, an oil executive and his driver stopped at a roadside eatery for dinner when they were cornered by armed men.

The gunmen seized Nestor Martinez, who manages a production unit for energy monopoly Pemex in the oil-rich state of Tabasco, and sent his driver on to deliver the news he had been kidnapped, industry sources say.

Martinez was released a few days after his abduction last month but a spate of kidnappings of Pemex executives has shaken the oil industry in a country where drug cartels and organized crime gangs are increasingly spooking foreign investors.

“Everyone has heard about it but there has been no official statement. It’s really frightening,” said a Pemex employee in Villahermosa, who declined to be identified because he is not authorized to speak with reporters.

A Pemex spokesman declined to comment on the case, and the industry sources could not confirm local media reports that a large ransom was paid to free Martinez, also president of the national petroleum engineers’ association.

Mexico is in the grip of a brutal drugs war that has killed some 23,000 people, mainly traffickers and police, since President Felipe Calderon took power in late 2006. The army crackdown launched by Calderon has fanned turf wars between rival gangs and battles against security forces.

(more…)

Friday, April 16, 2010

Legal News: ‘To Deny Hostage Takers The Benefits Of Ransom’–W.H. Somali Piracy Policy

    U.S. government policy is “to deny hostage takers the benefits of ransom, prisoner releases, policy changes, or other acts of concession,” the White House said in a statement today.

***** 

   This is the only article I could find that listed the administration’s follow up statement on the matter.  This quote was also added as an update to this article. I have not seen a lot of stuff written on this, primarily because it is still kind of new and vague.  A reporter needs to nail down the White House on this, because I am sure there are shipping companies out there just scratching their head.  Does this new order expressly prohibit paying ransoms to pirates or not?

   If a lawyer (in the article below) states that this is vague and could be interpreted one way or the other, I tend to think that the American shipping industry is pretty confused right now.

   It could also mean that this is a hint that the administration is dropping on the US shipping industry.  A hint that says ‘you guys should probably think about doing something other than paying the salaries of Somali pirates with 3 to 5 million dollar ransoms’. Who knows, and we will see how this turns out. –Matt

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Obama Order May Block Ransoms Paid to Somali Pirates

April 15, 2010 (updated)

More From Businessweek

(Adds White House comment in fifth paragraph.)

By Gregory Viscusi

President Barack Obama signed an executive order freezing the assets of Somali militias that could also make it illegal for U.S. ship owners to pay ransoms to pirates.

The executive order signed late yesterday bars any U.S. citizens and companies, as well as their overseas branches, from having financial dealings with a list of 11 militia leaders and the Islamic guerrilla group al-Shabaab, as well anyone that has “engaged in acts that directly or indirectly threaten the peace, security, or stability of Somalia.”

While never using the word “ransom,” the order includes “acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea” among those acts.

“The wording could definitely be construed to make payments of ransoms illegal,” Bruce Paulsen, a partner at Seward & Kissel in New York, who negotiated a ransom payment with Somali pirates for a U.S. owned ship hijacked in 2008, said in a telephone interview.

(more…)

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