Meagan Flood
2/5/09
Blog # 3
11:35 p.m.
The largest reported ransom was received just last week for $3.2 million dollars. After 4 1/2 months Somali pirates finally have released a Ukrainian ship carrying large amounts of weapons. The money arrived by parachute drop and the pirates quickly left the ship in small groups. However, the U.S. Navy could do nothing because there are still 150 seamen being held hostage. Piracy is becoming a huge problem off the coast of Africa. Last year alone pirates seized 42 ships and collected around $80 million in ransom. With growing confidence these pirate groups are now starting to hijack large cargo ships carrying very dangerous cargo. In the past few months alone they have hijacked a ship carrying crude oil, another carrying explosive gas, and the one I mentioned above carrying weapons. This growing risk has caused India, Britain, France, Germany, Iran, and the U.S. to send warships to patrol the waters off Somalia. So far in 2009 there have been 16 attempted hijackings and 3 successes. These pirate groups are now using more sohpisticated devices to locate ships and are now simultaneously attacking ships. This is a great concern because this could very well turn into a means of gaining weapons among other things which, could land in the wrong hands. With $80 million being earned in the past year it makes you wonder where these pirates are putting this money or what they could possibly be using it to by.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29030514/
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