THE Somali pirates slung their AK47 rifles over their shoulders as they peered into the dark hold, using torches to light up the bowels of the Ukrainian freighter. "We couldn't believe our eyes," said Sugule Ali, commander of the so-called Voluntary Marines for Somalia, speaking to The Sunday Times over a satellite phone from the MV Faina. "We were horrified that people were bringing these weapons through Somali waters." The ragtag band of armed gangsters could have been forgiven for thinking they had hit the jackpot as they surveyed the tanks, rocket-propelled grenades and Russian-made antiaircraft guns stored in the hold. This weekend they were demanding a $20m (£11.3m) ransom for the cargo, about 10 times what they usually ask to give back a vessel.
The thought of the Faina's vast arsenal finding its way into lawless Somalia, where Islamists are threatening to overrun a weak government, has horrified Washington. Half a dozen American warships have encircled the Faina to stop any of the 33 Soviet-era tanks and other weaponry being taken ashore.