Pirates Directed From London? (Somali, military, insurance, companies)

[Chris1955]

This bit of news is making the international maritime community notice.

Somali pirates using London contacts: report | Reuters

Somali pirates are planning attacks on shipping using detailed information telephoned through by contacts in London, according to an intelligence report cited by Spanish radio on Monday. The pirates have built up a network of informants in London with access to sensitive data from shipping companies about vessels, routes and cargoes, according to a European military intelligence report that Cadena Ser radio said it had seen.
The pirates receive their information by satellite phone and use sophisticated equipment to locate their targets, Cadena Ser said.
The intelligence report also said that the pirates seem to avoid attacks on ships of some nationalities, including British ships.

There is plenty of other similar news on the matter, including information on several vessels that were known to be attacked by this method, and how the pirates aboard at least one vessel were in contact with their London Sources at the time.

Those of us familiar with small boats were wondering how the Somalias could target vessels moving at 15-20 knots hundreds of miles offshore, and know the ships cargo and partiuclars before they board it.

Also, in some cases the pirates were said to have blueprints of the vessels they boarded and knew the exact nationalities of the crew and so on.

Llyods and the IMO are named as the sources of this leaked information as is the admiralty in some of the press.

If the pirates are being directed by people in London this brings some very interesting questions up.

The part about them avoiding British ships is especially interesting.

[ovcatto]

With the amounts of money being paid in ransom it shouldn't be surprising that the lure of large rewards buys better intelligence as the pirates grow in sophistication.

[Chris1955]

Originally Posted by ovcatto

With the amounts of money being paid in ransom it shouldn't be surprising that the lure of large rewards buys better intelligence as the pirates grow in sophistication.

Perhaps. But being an accomplice to piracy usually carries some extremely heavy penalties, including capital punishment.

And in most cases the vessel the piracy occurs on is the territory of the nation whose flag it flies. So what is the United Kingdom gonna do when they get an extradition request from say Singapore or Taiwan?

A life sentence in a Turkish prison best be worth the money you get, I doubt any British citizen would be up to it.

And I am surprised the Brits are not all over this, one of the major finacial bastions of their country is people like Lloyds and other maritime insurance companes.