Somali pirates keep Indian hostages after ransom

[KS]

Somali pirates keep Indian hostages after ransom

MOGADISHU, Somalia – In a move that could change the pirate-hostage equation, Somali pirates on Friday took in a multimillion dollar ransom, then released the ship and some of the crew but kept all the Indian crew members as hostages.

A pirate told The Associated Press the Indian crew members' hostage ordeal is being prolonged in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy.

"We decided to keep the Indian because India is holding our colleagues," the pirate, Hassan Farah, said. "We released the other crew members who sailed away from our coast. We will keep these Indians until the Indians release our colleagues."

Farah said the pirates in the stronghold of Haradhere have taken that collective decision. The Indian hostages are to be moved to land.

A multimillion dollar ransom was paid for the ship Asphalt Venture, whose ownership is located in Mumbai, India. Pirates are receiving an average of $5 million to release ships and crew, and a ransom in that ballpark was believed to have been paid on Friday.It wasn't immediately clear how many of the 15 crew members aboard the Asphalt Venture were Indian. The ship was hijacked in late September.

Friday's pirate action marks a major departure from the standard pirate business model of release-for-ransom and could complicate international military efforts against the piracy trade.

Earlier this year pirates killed four American hostages while U.S. Navy warships were shadowing the hijacked yacht, the first time pirates had done that.Overall, analysts say pirates are becoming increasingly aggressive, violent and hostile.

The Indian navy has seized around 120 pirates, mostly from Somalia, over the past few months. Last month the Indian navy captured 61 pirates when they attacked a naval ship. Indian warships have been escorting merchant ships as part of international anti-piracy surveillance in the Indian Ocean area since 2008.

Piracy has long plagued the shipping industry off East Africa, but violence has escalated in recent months. Pirates held some 30 ships and more than 600 hostages.

Some people were arguing the other day on the news that Indian Navy arresting the pirates and bringing home was the correct thing to do and not shooting them or letting them drift away in the ocean saying Democracy would be lost if we executed them.

Now ppl please ask the democratically elected Foreign minister to escort the captured pirates who were on a vacation in India in order to get our sailors released.

 

[Mirza Jatt]

I think its high time GoI takes some solid steps to get our sailors back.

 

[Urbanized Greyhound]

Its a tricky situation , because the Somalian Govt has no control over them , and they have aided us as much as possible by granting the IN the authority to venture deep within Somalian waters. A harsher , action against pirates like shoot to kill measures etc will only antagonize them and make Indian sailors unnecessary targets once their vessels have been captured. Nor can we arrest and put on death penalty , Given the speed of our judicial system , it would only encourage such incidents.

The one way of solving this quagmire seems to work out some arrangement with the Somalian govt where by they can be incarcinated in some Somali prison - effectively drawing our involvement to a close.

 

[KS]

Its a tricky situation , because the Somalian Govt has no control over them , and they have aided us as much as possible by granting the IN the authority to venture deep within Somalian waters. A harsher , action against pirates like shoot to kill measures etc will only antagonize them and make Indian sailors unnecessary targets once their vessels have been captured. Nor can we arrest and put on death penalty , Given the speed of our judicial system , it would only encourage such incidents.

The one way of solving this quagmire seems to work out some arrangement with the Somalian govt where by they can be incarcinated in some Somali prison - effectively drawing our involvement to a close.

The only fool proof method is the method adopted by the Russians and even the Somali Ambassador has supported it.

After a Russian naval operation on May 6 freed the tanker, capturing 10 pirates and killing one, the disarmed pirates were put into inflatable boats without navigational systems and pushed off into open waters.

Somali ambassador defends Russian treatment of pirates

 

[ChinaToday]

A tricky situation for the goi to deal with , let hope all the sailors can be realesed unharm

 

[tallboy123]

next time dont arrest them and bring here and treat them as guests...just un arm them,take out the gps system in the ship,remove the fuel and push the boat along with the pirates in the sea...
GoI u need to be aggressive....Fcuuk u congress

 

[Mech]

GOI babu brigade must prove to us it has a backbone and attack the flea bitten turds .

Please....PLEASE! dont release the friggin prisoners like you pricks always do...

 

[RayBan]

yes we should give their colleagues back to them. and make sure each and every colleague is stuffed with explosives in his bum and a remote control detonator in my hand.

 

[Abingdonboy]

It is true that this is indeed a very tricky situation for the GoI and any GOVT to face and uptil now the GoI/MoD/IN has taken a relatively hard line against the Pirates- defended >1000 ships to safety and defended forcefully when attacked. Compared to the RN I have representing my country the IN has been quite aggressive (the RN can take no action against pirates unless it is the most dire of situations and thus has to merely escort at a distant hijacked ships) this is the extreme end of the scale. And there are others who have taken even harsher action- The French, Russians, S. Koreans and my personal favourite the Americans:
Maersk Alabama hijacking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3 USN SEALs fired 1 shot each and took down 3 pirates SIMULTANIOUSLY from the deck of a pitching destroyer quite a distance away. I don't think the IN should conduct a similar op just for the sake of it but if there are Indian/innocent civilians in immediate danger then,yes, they should use whatever means nessercary to protect innocent life.

Again it comes down to political will- GoI says yes, MARCOs will do the rest!!

 

[desioptimist]

It is true that this is indeed a very tricky situation for the GoI and any GOVT to face and uptil now the GoI/MoD/IN has taken a relatively hard line against the Pirates- defended >1000 ships to safety and defended forcefully when attacked. Compared to the RN I have representing my country the IN has been quite aggressive (the RN can take no action against pirates unless it is the most dire of situations and thus has to merely escort at a distant hijacked ships) this is the extreme end of the scale. And there are others who have taken even harsher action- The French, Russians, S. Koreans and my personal favourite the Americans:
Maersk Alabama hijacking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

3 USN SEALs fired 1 shot each and took down 3 pirates SIMULTANIOUSLY from the deck of a pitching destroyer quite a distance away. I don't think the IN should conduct a similar op just for the sake of it but if there are Indian/innocent civilians in immediate danger then,yes, they should use whatever means nessercary to protect innocent life.

Again it comes down to political will- GoI says yes, MARCOs will do the rest!!

Using force against pirates is not big deal, but it will just escalate the violence. Many of the pirates have nothing else to do, and they can actually kill the hostages next time if you start using force against them. Most govt want to secure the route by providing protection, while paying ransom for those unfortunate one that pirates capture.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Using force against pirates is not big deal, but it will just escalate the violence. Many of the pirates have nothing else to do, and they can actually kill the hostages next time if you start using force against them. Most govt want to secure the route by providing protection, while paying ransom for those unfortunate one that pirates capture.

I understand that, I was not condoning the use of violence unessceraily only as a means of last resort- in the mearsk Alabama case the SEALS felt the pirates were about to execute the captain. But I do feel the GoI needs to take a stronger stance on this and not avoid the use of force when needed.

 

[SpArK]

Somali pirates release ship with 15-member Indian crew​

Somali pirates have released a Panama-flagged ship with a 15-member Indian crew after months in captivity, Xinhua reported on Saturday. Andrew Mwangura, maritime editor of the Somalia Report, said the MT Asphalt Venture, which was seized Sep 29, was freed late on Friday.

Mwangura said the United Arab Emirates-owned vessel was on route to Durban (South Africa) from Mombasa (Kenya) when it was attacked by the gun wielding pirates.

"The MT Asphalt Venture was released on Friday with 15 Indians. The vessel was hijacked last year in September and we have not established whether ransom exchanged hands," Mwangura told Xinhua over telephone from Mombasa.

Mwangura said the hijack had occurred approximately 100 nautical miles southeast of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

The vessel is managed by OMCI Ship Management Pvt Ltd from Mumbai and is owned by Bitumen Invest As from Sharjah.

The Horn of Africa nation has been without a functioning government since 1991, and remains one of the world's most violent and lawless countries.

Somali pirates release ship with 15-member Indian crew - Hindustan Times