| Submit your comments on this article |
| Arabia |
| Coalition Nabs Four Pirates in Gulf |
| 2003-10-01 |
| MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- U.S. and coalition maritime interception forces (MIF) operating in the North Arabian Gulf apprehended four suspected bandits Sept. 29 after they allegedly robbed several cargo dhows. At approximately 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29, several dhows made emergency radio calls, claiming that a speedboat filled with four men approached their vessels and stole items at gunpoint. "Yar, we be pirates! Hand over your booty or eat lead!" USS Fletcher (DD 992) directed its SH-60B Seahawk helicopter to investigate. The helicopter, from HSL-45âs âWolfpack,â was already airborne about 15 miles north of the dhows supporting another mission when the distress calls were received. Using their forward-looking infrared radar, the San Diego-based helicopter crew quickly found a small speedboat with four persons loitering in the area. Once the boat became aware of the helicopterâs presence, it accelerated and headed on a northernly course. "Yar, we be...Holy shit, Evinrude donât fail me now!" Fletcher dispatched its boarding team in the destroyerâs small boat, which intercepted the speedboat after a brief chase. The SH-60 crew maintained constant aerial surveillance of the speedboat, and aided Fletcherâs boarding team in the final moments of the chase by hovering closely over the alleged thieves. "Jeez, L.T., you just took his turban off!" Fletcherâs boarding team inspected the speedboat, and found several brand new tires, dozens of blankets, 20 flashlights and boxes of batteries strewn about. The items found matched the description of items reported stolen by the dhows. The Australian Navy frigate HMAS Newcastle (FFG 6) dispatched a liaison officer and a translator to assist with the questioning of the four suspects. USS Firebolt (PC 10) arrived on scene with Miami-based U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) 407, who performed a thorough search of the suspects and their vessel. A destroyer, a frigate, and a 170 ft Cyclone class patrol boat, I believe this is called "piling on". |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #12 The Persian Gulf is a very odd place on the water. The water is almost totally calm, so there are dhows all over the place. I doubt that many of the dhow captains could be communicated with meaningfully. The speedboats are all fast movers and head from one coast to another on high rate of speed smuggling missions. Stealing a set of tires and a load of blankets would be seem like a waste of time for a smuggler. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-10-1 10:16:56 PM |
| #11 Easy to put an end to this. Just establish sea lanes (tell the turbantops the rest of the water is mined), fly 'em with either an SH-60 or a SuperCobra at 500 feet, and make sure nobody gets out of hand. When you have something like this, where there's clear evidence the group needs a whacking, do it, hard, fast, and deadly. I don't think it would take much more than two or three for the word to get around the Middle East you don't play water games with the US. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-10-1 5:23:31 PM |
| #10 Stop all speedboats, regardless. There are no speedboats being used for legitimate purposes in that portion of the world. You caould probably find suggled goods on half of the dhows, but that would be too much work. |
| Posted by: Superhose 2003-10-1 3:24:40 PM |
| #9 "Yar, we be...Holy shit, Evinrude don't fail me now!" Classic! |
| Posted by: Daniel King 2003-10-1 2:22:01 PM |
| #8 What happened to all that gold and silver and crown jewels that Errol Flynn used to scoop up in those old movies? I guess pirating ain't what it used to be. |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-10-1 1:58:29 PM |
| #7 ...found several brand new tires, dozens of blankets, 20 flashlights and boxes of batteries strewn about. The items found matched the description of items reported stolen by the dhows. WTF? Was K-Mart closed or something? |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-10-1 1:25:24 PM |
| #6 I believe this is called "piling on" sounds like "sending a clear message we won't put up with this &^%!" to me ... |
| Posted by: rkb 2003-10-1 1:09:59 PM |
| #5 let's face it the Navy and Air Force haven't had much to do. Something like this gets everybody spun up. BTW good job Coasties, Navy, RAN! |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2003-10-1 1:08:12 PM |
| #4 I believe this is called "piling on" "Yar, we be needing new britches..." |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2003-10-1 1:02:41 PM |
| #3 Hmmm, will Shari'a be involved? One less hand to worry about? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-10-1 12:50:19 PM |
| #2 musta been a slow night in the zone. |
| Posted by: john 2003-10-1 12:47:00 PM |
| #1 Shoulda called up Spooky. One quick burst of the minigun and problem solved. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-1 12:46:56 PM |