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2009-01-12 Africa Horn

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Posted by tu3031 2009-01-12 11:46|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 smart pirates would target their compatriots coming in with the loot, avoid all the high seas chaos

Posted by vdh 2009-01-12 12:24|| 2009-01-12 12:24|| Front Page Top

#2 i'm sure they promptly turned the money over too the proper authoriies, who is it this weel al shabaad or ethiopians

Posted by rabid whitetail 2009-01-12 12:28|| 2009-01-12 12:28|| Front Page Top

#3 Ah, the Perils of the Swashbuckling Life...

When the luxury French yacht Le Ponant was hijacked by pirates, an estimated $1.2 million were delivered to secure the ship's release, according to sources close to the pirates. Yet the freeing of Le Ponant illustrated the risks incurred at the time of the transaction by the pirates, whose organizational structure remains very rudimentary and heavily reliant on trust.

According to several businessmen in northern Somalia who refused to be named, part of the cash the French paid was counterfeit and virtually impossible to use. "I wanted to make a business deal with one of the pirates and I saw that the notes were counterfeit. In one bundle, all the notes had the same serial number," one businessman told Agence France-Presse.

French special forces even recovered part of the ransom during a military raid in which they netted six suspected pirates.

Since that incident, which took place in April, the pirates started taking more precautions and the group holding the Sirius Star had a counting machine and a counterfeit money detector.

Some pirates were already very specific on the notes that should be used for the ransom, demanding only $100 and $50 bills and refusing certain years of issue. "They won't take any $100 bills from 1996 and they also try to avoid the very recent bills, out of fear they can be traced more easily," said one Somali source who was involved in several negotiations.

Posted by tu3031 2009-01-12 12:32|| 2009-01-12 12:32|| Front Page Top

#4 Local resident Omar Abdi Hassan said one of the bodies had been found on a beach near the coastal town of Haradhere and relatives were searching for the other four.

I just bet they were. I'd have been doing some beach combing myself.

Posted by Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-01-12 14:08|| 2009-01-12 14:08|| Front Page Top

#5 "no funny stuff, copper. No consecutive-numbered bills, and no $50's or $100's!"
"OK, how about if they're $30's and all have the same number?"
"Hokay"

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-01-12 15:07|| 2009-01-12 15:07|| Front Page Top

#6 Somebody should set up a refreshment stand to cater to the Haradhere beach searcher crowd as they search for their "beloved family members". They'd make a killing...

Posted by tu3031 2009-01-12 15:43|| 2009-01-12 15:43|| Front Page Top

#7 Why don't they just ask for euros instead?

Posted by Seafarious 2009-01-12 17:58|| 2009-01-12 17:58|| Front Page Top

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