‘Arms smugglers’ raided : Arms destined for Pirateland Raided in South Africa

 update on

Tribal enclave separatist Puntland sings ‘secret deal’ with Saracen Energy Company, based in Houston

THE MERCURY

Police inspect weapons confiscated in a raid on a Westville, Durban home. Photo: Puri Devjee

Four people, including three women, were arrested on Thursday when Durban police raided a Westville home and seized weapons and ammunition believed to be destined for Somalia to help in the fight against piracy, but which had been illegally diverted.

Among the weapons seized were eight 308 rifles, two shotguns and two AM3 assault rifles with telescopic lens and silencers. They were hidden in one of the rooms in the house.

The firearms were found still in their transportation cases. Police also recovered 592 rounds of ammunition and 12-bore rounds.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Mdunge said that preliminary investigations showed the firearms had been transported from Malta.

He refused to say who the weapons were destined for as this was still being investigated.

The investigation which led them to the house in Westville had been ongoing and more firearms could be found.

“We believe the firearms were illegally diverted to South Africa, but how they ended up in Durban remains a mystery,” he said.

“We believe the house was being used as a firearms holding area,” Mdunge said.

Those arrested, two 20-year-old women, a 28-year-old woman and a 39-year-old man, would appear in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court today.

It is believed that part of the house had been converted into offices where two women were working.

Somali pirates have been involved in a spate of hijackings around the Horn of Africa, including that of a Durban couple who are still being held captive.

Bruno Pelizzari and Deborah Caitz were kidnapped along with skipper Peter Eldridge on October 26.

Ten days after their capture a Dutch naval vessel gave chase and ran their vessel ashore. The pirates fled along with the couple, leaving Eldridge behind after he refused to leave the yacht. Eldridge was duly rescued by the Dutch and brought back to Richards Bay.

On Thursday Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Clayson Monyela said: “There is nothing new on the South African couple who were hijacked by Somali pirates.”

In another incident involving South Africans, two men from Cape Town who were falsely arrested for ownership of allegedly smuggled goods as well as for “impersonating journalists”, were released and arrived at OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday.

Anton van der Merwe and Chris Everson, a cameraman and a sound recordist, who both work for an American documentary news show, were travelling to work on an independent production in Somalia. Their producers had told them to board a charter aircraft at Entebbe international airport in Uganda.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been growing rapidly, with numerous vessels being hijacked and held for huge ransoms.

A number of international organisations such as the International Maritime Organisation and the World Food Programme have expressed concern over the rise in acts of piracy, incidents of which have contributed to an increase in shipping costs and impeded delivery of food aid shipments.

A multinational coalition naval task force has been established to monitor and inspect vessels along the north-east African coastline.

Countries which are party to this task force include France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. - The Mercury iol
· Some background.

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BreakingNews : FBI Snatches Alleged Pirate Mohammad Saaili Shibin Inside Somalia. US seizes man in Somalia, says he was pirates' negotiator in fatal hijacking

update on Accused Somali hostage negotiator faces U.S. charges. 15th indicted in piracy that
killed 4 US yachters

Mohammad Saaili Shibin, a Somali man accused of acting as chief negotiator for pirates who took four Americans hostage and killed them in February, is transported from the US District Court, in Norfolk, Va. after a scheduled detention hearing.

In a first for U.S. anti-piracy efforts, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents ventured into Somalia to arrest the man who allegedly oversaw ransom negotiations for four Americans held hostage and later killed by pirates.Mohammad Shibin, 50 years old, was captured in a joint operation, led by the FBI and coordinated with Somali authorities.
U.S. agents had never before apprehended an alleged pirate on land, though it has prosecuted a number of Somali pirates caught attacking U.S. ships in the Arabian Sea.  To date, counter-piracy efforts had been waged almost exclusively in millions of square miles of ocean off the Horn of Africa.
Andrew Shapiro, the State Department's point man on piracy, said last month the U.S. was preparing a "more energetic and comprehensive" approach to piracy, with a special focus on "pirate leaders and financiers" onshore.
Mr. Shibin was captured in early April and brought to the U.S. last week. He had been indicted in early March and charged with three counts, including piracy and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, charges which could carry a life sentence if he is found guilty. Mr. Shibin appeared Wednesday for the first time in U.S. district court in Norfolk, Va., where the indictment was unsealed.
"The arrest of Mohammad Shibin is a significant breakthrough in the United States' battle against Somali pirates," said Neil MacBride, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia."We hope this indictment will strike at the heart of the piracy business and send a strong message to all pirates, whether they board the ships or remain on shore in Somalia."
On Feb. 18, four U.S. sailors crossing the Arabian Sea on their 58-foot yacht, the Quest, were hijacked by more than a dozen Somali pirates. According to the indictment, while the American sailors were kept below deck by their captors, Mr. Shabin, on shore in Somalia, researched them over the Internet "to determine the amount of ransom to demand."
The next day, just before a U.S. Navy SEAL assault team boarded the Quest, the American sailors—Scott and Jean Adam, Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle—were shot and killed by the pirates. The deadly episode was a turning point in piracy in the region; killings had been very rare, since crews and ships can bring millions of dollars in ransoms.
Mr. Shibin told FBI agents after his arrest that he had also been lead ransom negotiator after last May's taking of the chemical tanker M/V Marida Marguerite, according to court documents. That tanker was released seven months later, earning Mr. Shabin $30,000 for his negotiating role, according to court documents.
The FBI operation inside Somalia was possible because of a pair of U.N. Security Council resolutions in 2008 that authorized nations to take "all necessary and appropriate measures" to combat piracy in Somalia.
Mr. Shibin's capture came shortly after Mr. Shapiro, assistant secretary in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the State Department, sketched out the Obama administration's revised plan to counter piracy in the region by taking steps to make the high-reward, low-risk business more risky for pirates.
"Most importantly we must focus on pirate leaders and financiers to deny them the means to benefit from ransom proceeds," he said in a speech in late March. wsj

US seizes man in Somalia, says he was pirates' negotiator in fatal hijacking

US Charges Alleged Somali Negotiator in Deadly Pirate Attack

Northwest News: Accused Somali pirate was mastermind in deadly hostage plot, authorities say; city councilman who lost eye to bear warns others

Here's some background

Somali pirate gets 25-year U.S. prison sentence

Somali pirates raise ransom stakes

PIRACY SPECIAL The pirate kings of Puntland

The pirate kings of Puntland Hijackers get $1.8m for ship

PIRACY SPECIAL The pirate kings of Puntland

Juqraafi [left] tells Mohammed Adow that desperation, not greed, drove him to piracy

They don't wear eye-patches or peg legs and you won't find any parrots perched on their shoulders, but they are no less pirates for that.Twenty-first century piracy Somali style is a far cry from the swashbuckling, sea dogs of old but, in recent months, they have captured both the headlines and the public's imagination. Their high seas hijackings have also forced the media to focus on Somalia, arguably the globe's most neglected tragedy.But who are these men and what drives them to carry out such audacious attacks?I set off to Puntland, the semi-autonomous region in Somalia's north-eastern corner, to find out.Puntland is one of the poorest parts of war-torn Somalia and it is home to most of Somalia's dreaded pirates.The pirate's ranks have been swollen by many of the region's youths - drawn by the potentially huge profits of one of Somalia's most successful, if unconventional, business enterprises.Faced with limited options and even less optimism for the country's future, the young pirates care little about the risks they will run at sea.In Garowe, the capital of Puntland, I met a well-known pirate; Abdirashid Ahmed - nicknamed Juqraafi or "geography" - still flush from a recent hijacking.
Ransom negotiations
Abdirashid and his colleagues had just taken receipt of a ransom payment of $1.3m after capturing the Greek ship MV Saldanha in February.Smartly dressed and driving a Toyota four-wheel drive, he cut the perfect figure of prosperous young Somali. "It took us three months of negotiations with the boat's owner before we came to an agreement over the ransom money."We initially asked for $17m but compromised and accepted $1.3m when we realised it will take a long time to get more out of the shipping company," he tells me.However, it was desperation, not greed, he claims, that pushed him to throw in his lot with the pirates."We are driven by hunger, just look at our country and how destroyed it is. We are people with no hope and opportunities, that is what is forcing us into piracy," he says. Successful ventures like Juqraafi's have turned piracy in Somalia into a self-financing local industry. Pirate cells operate in well-organised groups, drawing in members of extended family networks...more..http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2009/06/2009614125245860630.html

The pirate kings of Puntland Hijackers get $1.8m for ship

Mogadishu - Somali hijackers on Saturday said they had released a German ship and its crew which they had been holding for three months after being paid a ransom of $1.8m.
"We have released the ship and its crew overnight after receiving a ransom of one million and eight hundred dollars. It is free now and gone," Mohamed Abdi, a pirate in Eyl told AFP by telephone.The hijackers did not name the ship, but the only German vessel they were still holding was the Hansa Stavanger, seized on April 4, which had a crew of 24, including five Germans - one of them the captain.Elders also confirmed the ship had been released, but could not say about the ransom."The German ship was released overnight by the pirates and it moved, but I don't know what has been paid to the pirates," Abdulahi Garaad Mohamed, an elder in Eyl said.
- AFP
Here's some background
The pirate kings of Puntland

Somalia: Puntland leader Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed “Farole,”invited to Washington, D.C..Somalia: Stakeholders Face-Off in Washington

GAROWE, Somalia June 16 - The president of Somalia’s Puntland State of somalia government is flying from the Gulf of Aden port city of Bossaso on Tuesday on a trip to the United States, Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed “Farole,” the Puntland president who won an election in January, is leading a government delegation to Washington, D.C., where he is expected to address a U.S. Congress session on Somali issues. President Farole’s delegation includes Interior Minister Gen. Abdullahi Ahmed “Ilkajir,” Planning and International Cooperation Minister Farah Aden Dhala, and the State Minister for Democratization Process, Dr. Abdi Hassan Jim’ale. Puntland government sources told (TF.SF )that President Farole will address the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health on a range of issues covering Somalia, including the political and humanitarian situation and the surge of piracy off the Horn of Africa country's coast.
It is the first trip by a Puntland leader to Washington, D.C., since the regional government was established in 1998.

Somalia: Stakeholders Face-Off in Washington
(VIDEO) Hearing: Prospects for Lasting Peace and a Unified Response to Extremism and Terrorism

http://www.hiiraan.com/images/june2009/USPuntland/pages/IMG_0005%202_jpg.htm

PIRACY SPECIAL The pirate kings of Puntland

Pirates' Haven - Al Jazeera English

 Al Jazeera's East Africa correspondent, travels to the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia to take a closer look at the world of modern-day pirates.
In recent years, piracy off the coast of Somalia has increased to unprecedented levels, capturing the world's attention and garnering the sort of media coverage that the country's almost two decades of conflict has not. 
This booming business is luring many young Somali men to the high seas in search of a super-tanker or luxury yacht.
Their goal is to win a hefty ransom for their catch of the day, but how do the pirates operate?
We speak to the pirates, look at what drives the piracy business and ask how the government plans to tackle it.
We also meet the local communities benefiting from the piracy in their ports and find out whether they consider their kinsmen to be criminals or heroes.Pirates' Haven - GENERAL - Al Jazeera English

The pirate kings of Puntland 

Capturing Pirates - Somalia..Featured Video of the week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CARQXLLxobo
and A Perfect Picture of Pirate Kingpin Meeting in Kenya Today,

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don't kiss and tell

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Puntland leader president, Abdirahman Muhammad Farole

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