Somali Pirates Extend Their Reach « Liveshots

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Somali Pirates Extend Their Reach

November 11, 2009 - 3:10 PM | by: Greg Palkot

Somali-based pirates have struck again. Hijacking a Greek-owned cargo ship 400 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean.

London-based piracy expert Nick Davis, tells Fox News, pirates now have “…no problem extending their reach.” He explains they “leapfrog” from skiff to skiff with a range of some 200 miles for each small boat. When they reach their target ship they just sail that back to Somalia.

Today’s successful hijacking is the tenth for the pirates since October. Heavy monsoon weather had hampered their activity. Some 250 hostages are being held.

Pirates are defying an international fleet arrayed against them. Right now there are 25 ships from 14 nations patrolling the seas.

While the navies have thwarted many pirate seizures, they haven’t been able to halt the problem.

“You can throw as many warships as you want at them,” Davis added, “and it won’t make a difference.”

For that reason Fox News can confirm, the US is taking to the skies to deal with piracy. The US military command Africom, Fox learned, has now stationed 3 unmanned surveillance Reaper aircraft in the Seychelles.

They have been there for a few weeks and can stay aloft for 18 hours and provide a live feed of sea actions.

The Reapers can be armed but as of now are only providing visuals. The way this crisis is building, that could change.

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35 Comments

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John Marshall

Do you honestly think NATO or our political coward of a pres could ever do anything effective to stop this? Even 25 military ships cant handle it. Only way to make them stop is by making it not worth it whatever it takes. `

November 12, 2009 at 8:57 AM

Ex-Navy

Why not take a lesson from history? Let the nations that are losing ships issue "letters of marque" giving the captains/crews of other ships to prey on the pirates. Up the ante and add a bounty per pirate and per pirate vessel (documented piracy that is, maybe using video from the wheelhouse/bridge). There's enough gung-ho types out there that would happily go "hunting" in order to build up that nest egg. License and arm them with slightly better weapons, and problem sovled.

November 12, 2009 at 7:58 AM

k busch

Have we forgotten blackhawk down? Bomb every port they use.

November 12, 2009 at 7:01 AM

paul dee

these are freakin pirates ? Where is the U.N. on this , ( just kidding I know they are useless ) but seriously I can't understand how they keep getting away with this . Find them and blow them out of the water , this is an embarressment this da and age . Someone please grow a set .

November 12, 2009 at 6:46 AM

Bryan Human

Hey, I'm with you all. But, and it is a big but. Every one of the vessels captured is privatly owned. And every one of the vessels captured has passed through the Suez Canal, having paid a toll in the region of 2-5 mil. And every one of these vessels could have gone around Africa, at an expense of 5-7 days sailing time. And every one of the captured vessels (except for the 2 yachts) could have outrun the skiffs, if they had passed the danger zone. Why didn't they? Money, my friends. It is more economical to save money, cruise past a danger zone economically and when the desperate Somalians capture the vessel, throw your hands up and let taxpayers bail you out. Is there a difference between Wall street bankers and International ship owners - I don't think so!

November 12, 2009 at 6:28 AM

Topo gigio

untill all shipping companies decide to arm their crews and train them to fight the pirates wont stop , and lets be real, it is the responsability of this shipping companies to defend their business when they are paying millions to pirates for their ships it only make sence to pay three armed men 150,000 to shoot pirates.

November 12, 2009 at 2:07 AM

Diana

France has the right idea. The pirates' most recent attempt to hijack a French commercial fishing vessel was effectively aborted when the fishing boat returned automatic fire (sad that fisherman have to arm themselves with automatic weapons, but they're obviously realistic about their environment). The only flaw in the operation is that the pirates face prosecution rather than summary execution. Piracy has becoming an incredibly profitable industry for the Somalis with minimum resistance; so the only way I can see them giving up such a lucrative business is if their losses begin to outweight their benefits...and unfortunately, I only see that happening if their targets deploy superior firepower, force, and swift summary justice. The French seem to be getting the concept down -- put them in charge.

November 12, 2009 at 12:56 AM

azguy

Sarcasm: ask pirates how much money they are looking for next five years, then print it same way we do for wallstreet banks to pay bonuses, and ship to them via UPS.

November 11, 2009 at 10:57 PM

norm

We have been the worlds police, unthankfully too long now. Lets just step back from everything for a while now and let them deal with their own messes. Lets use the money we save for something in aAmerica's best interest. Heard of Africom? What do they do? for how much of our money? This is exactly what their supposed to be there for, money wasted bring them home if they cant do their job.

November 11, 2009 at 10:31 PM

Elemer Beaud'or

Why does the West let pirates extort $-millions unpunished? So did Sadam Hussein for years, in the "food for oil" scheme, splitting profits with UN officials. Now again the "law (???) is on their side". The UN forbids armed self-defense for merchant ships, saying: "those poor young pirates have their human rights!. Self defense &owning guns is politically incorrect for liberals.

November 11, 2009 at 9:49 PM

chris hopkins

The United States MUST take action because we are the only ones who can. Pirates must be stopped . trade could be drastically affected by Somalia's control of the water.

November 11, 2009 at 9:40 PM

MikeC

Have these folks attacked American gov't ships? If not, why are we trying to solve problems that are not ours again? China has a powerful military. The European union has a powerful military. It is their back yard. We are not paid to be global cop, let's deal with our problems. I'm not a peacenik, but let's have our defense defend our nation (operative word ... defend).

November 11, 2009 at 8:54 PM

Lisa

I can not believe with the technology this country has, which surpasses most others, we can not end the pirating of the seas. The govt does not want to engage the pirates for whatever reason they have, unless it's a US citizen. Come on USA governemnt, get your act together on this.

November 11, 2009 at 8:22 PM

Chrss hopkins

Ok, im sixteen and i believe there is a simple solution to stopping the pirates. Send ships toward there known docking areas.cut off them from land until they become desperate and reckless. This is when you attack, board, and sieze. It will take patience but i believe it will prove to be sucessful.

November 11, 2009 at 7:25 PM

Marco H.

I don't know why nobody tries the old tried and proven method of convoys. Put a dozen freighters under the protection of a couple of navy ships. Fewer naval ships would be needed to do a better job of protecting the freighters. I think that the governments are only pretending to be serious about this. Stern words, little action, no results. Just like the U.N.

November 11, 2009 at 7:00 PM

John G.

The Navy Seals should put a squad on each ship trying to transit the area. All it would take is one Barretts 50.

November 11, 2009 at 6:49 PM

Da vid

Arm the seamen, give them some armed mercenaries. Put some 50 caliber guns mounts on the ships. Take out the pirates...game over...no more trouble. The pirates are going after the ships because they are easy targets!!!

November 11, 2009 at 6:45 PM

Oak

Guys, It would be easy to pick all these guys off, they're sitting ducks, its obvious. The only big issue is the amount of hostages they are holding right now, there is more to be lost than gained when dealing with a mass weed out approach. I completely agree with John Dalby's approach, only to respectfully correct you, John, Blackwater has since changed its name to Xe Services LLC. I think it would be great to have at least one or two highly trained security personnel aboard these vessels in the future to ensure the safety of the crews and cargo. I think this sort of plan should be implemented after all the hostages are returned home though, due to the threat of the pirates retaliating out of fear of security upgrades by the possibility of harming the hostages. The thing that people need to understand is that first and foremost Somalia is a poverty stricken country, and they are doing this for the money, not out of hatred of certain ethnic groups or countries. Past articles say that it is because of the overfishing of their waters, yet there is conflicting evidence. They have yet to kill a hostage, so let's all as good American's hope for the safe return of the innocent hostages to their countries and for the appropriate justice measures to be taken. Let's keep it fair and balanced for our love of Foxnews! Let me know what you guys think. I am certainly not on the side of the Pirates though...it is just good to do some backup research when dealing with these sensitive issues, they are criminals, but they are not comparable to the Taliban or even worthy of direct action by the United States Military. I sure wouldn't want to have to see another real life "Black Hawk Down" situation. Scary Place. -Oak

November 11, 2009 at 5:55 PM

Mo Diddley

There's no reasonable reason at all as to why we have put up with it as long as we have. If they wanna play, then let's play! We could use a sub to take a bunch of 'em out from below. When their buddies realize that we're going to turn 'em into so much chum, they'll probably start looking for a new line of work. But I wouldn't put too much faith into bombing and occupying that god-forsaken crap hole of a country. Although we probably COULD use it for another base, that might just create some 'shovel ready' jobs, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?

November 11, 2009 at 5:50 PM

Bob Frederick

The US isn't going to do anything as long as we have a non US citizen and muslum in the White House.

November 11, 2009 at 5:39 PM

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