Oh, how the money rolls in!
(SomaliNet) A Kenyan maritime organisation said Thursday that Somali pirates have released a German-operated ship and a Japanese tanker seized last month. Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan branch of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme said the German's Antigua and Barbuda-flagged MV BBC Trinidad and Japanese MT Irene were seized on August 21 off the unpatrolled Somali coast. "As of now, we have confirmed that the two ships have been released by the pirates," he told AFP from the port town of Mombasa.
The MV BBC Trinidad, which was held in the northeastern Somali fishing village of Eyl, has a 13-member crew: a Slovenian captain, 10 Filipinos and two Russians. "We have got information that 1.1 million dollars was paid for the release of the German ship," said Mwangura, adding that the freighter is headed to Muscat.
Mwangura said the MT Irene, which had 16 Filipinos and three Croatians, was freed from the same village a day after a group of Japanese arrived in Nairobi to boost efforts to release the tanker. "We have reports that they brought ransom and were coordinating its payment," he added.
A ransom of 1.5 million dollars was paid for the Japanese vessel but the information could not immediately be confirmed, sources close to the pirates in the northern Somali breakaway state of Puntland told AFP said.
According to Somali officials and several maritime organisations, Somali pirates are currently holding several foreign ships hostage off the coast of the troubled Horn of Africa country. Maritime experts say many attacks go unreported along Somalia's 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) of largely unpatrolled coastline infested by pirates, who operate high-powered speedboats and carry heavy machine guns and rocket launchers.
In June, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorising foreign warships to enter Somalia's territorial waters with the government's consent to combat pirates and armed robbery at sea, but it is yet to be implemented.
| Typical UN efficiency ... |