 Six Somali men involved in capturing a French yacht and holding its 30 crew hostage have said they were part of a maritime militia group with a written code of conduct, a French judicial source said on Thursday.
| "Arrr! 'At's right, matey! We signed the articles, we did!" |
| Actually, it isn't really a code; more of a guideline, really. |
The men were captured in the Somali desert by French troops on Friday after holding the yacht and its crew off Somalia for a week and fleeing with part of the booty ransom, which was recovered. They were flown to France this week to face trial. The yacht's captain told investigators the ransom paid was $2 million (1 million pounds). But the half-dozen men are just part of a larger group of pirates that carried out the hostage-taking and they only had about $200,000, or 10 percent of that amount, on them.
| "We buried the rest, we did! And the likes o' yew'll never find it, y'swabs!" |
"The chance of identifying them (the others) is relatively small," the judicial source said on condition of anonymity.
| "Calling all cars! Be on the lookout for a pirate crew flying the Jolly Roger! That is all!" |
The men said their militia group was based in the village of Garaad-Ade in the northern province of Puntland, and police found their manual of good conduct on board the luxury yacht.
| "It's our articles, 'at's wot it is!" |
Piracy is lucrative in the waters off lawless Somalia's coast and most kidnappers treat their captives well in anticipation of a good ransom. The manual banned mistreatment of hostages, notably sexual abuse, the judicial source said.
"C'mon, Cap'n! Just a little goose? It's been four years since we seen a woman!"
"Ummm... Mahmoud? 'At's not a woman."
"It's not?"
"It's a... ummm... giraffe."
"Close enough. Please, Cap'n?" |
"That shows that it is an organised activity," he added. According to their initial statements to police, two of the men took part in the April 4 raid on the yacht, three others were part of the armed guard that watched over the hostages, and one was their driver when they returned to land. The men, aged between 25 and 40, are suspected of "boat hijacking, kidnapping and confinement in an organised gang with ransom payment" which carries a maximum life sentence. |