Two weeks after three journalists and their fixers were abducted in Mogadishu, the kidnappers finally have named their price: $3 million for the scribes' safe return.
This is only the latest and most headline-friendly event in worrying trend: Somali gunmen, on land and at sea, are successfully squeezing millions of dollars per month in ransoms from foreign companies and families. Currently pirates hold 11 ships at the southern port of Eyl. Seized vessels have fetched $1-million ransoms, on average, during this year's spike in hijackings.
The problem "will get worse," DANGER ROOM naval analyst Galrahn predicts. Why? He crunched the numbers to explain just how lucrative, relatively speaking, banditry is to Somalis. Piracy, for one, has "replaced fishing as the local industry" in southern Somalia. "The 30+ ships hijacked to date are potentially worth $30 million to the local economy, while the entire fishing industry of Somalia today is estimated around $1.5 million." MORE..Two weeks after three journalists and their fixers were abducted in Mogadishu, the kidnappers finally have named their price: $3 million for the scribes' safe return.
This is only the latest and most headline-friendly event in worrying trend: Somali gunmen, on land and at sea, are successfully squeezing millions of dollars per month in ransoms from foreign companies and families. Currently pirates hold 11 ships at the southern port of Eyl. Seized vessels have fetched $1-million ransoms, on average, during this year's spike in hijackings.
The problem "will get worse," DANGER ROOM naval analyst Galrahn predicts. Why? He crunched the numbers to explain just how lucrative, relatively speaking, banditry is to Somalis. Piracy, for one, has "replaced fishing as the local industry" in southern Somalia. "The 30+ ships hijacked to date are potentially worth $30 million to the local economy, while the entire fishing industry of Somalia today is estimated around $1.5 million."
This is only the latest and most headline-friendly event in worrying trend: Somali gunmen, on land and at sea, are successfully squeezing millions of dollars per month in ransoms from foreign companies and families. Currently pirates hold 11 ships at the southern port of Eyl. Seized vessels have fetched $1-million ransoms, on average, during this year's spike in hijackings.
The problem "will get worse," DANGER ROOM naval analyst Galrahn predicts. Why? He crunched the numbers to explain just how lucrative, relatively speaking, banditry is to Somalis. Piracy, for one, has "replaced fishing as the local industry" in southern Somalia. "The 30+ ships hijacked to date are potentially worth $30 million to the local economy, while the entire fishing industry of Somalia today is estimated around $1.5 million." MORE..Two weeks after three journalists and their fixers were abducted in Mogadishu, the kidnappers finally have named their price: $3 million for the scribes' safe return.
This is only the latest and most headline-friendly event in worrying trend: Somali gunmen, on land and at sea, are successfully squeezing millions of dollars per month in ransoms from foreign companies and families. Currently pirates hold 11 ships at the southern port of Eyl. Seized vessels have fetched $1-million ransoms, on average, during this year's spike in hijackings.
The problem "will get worse," DANGER ROOM naval analyst Galrahn predicts. Why? He crunched the numbers to explain just how lucrative, relatively speaking, banditry is to Somalis. Piracy, for one, has "replaced fishing as the local industry" in southern Somalia. "The 30+ ships hijacked to date are potentially worth $30 million to the local economy, while the entire fishing industry of Somalia today is estimated around $1.5 million."
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