Security

Pirates to <cite>NYT</cite>: 'We Just Want the Money'

Pirates who seized the Ukrainian ship Faina on Thursday, and demanded a $20-million ransom, had no idea it was carrying small arms, rockets, ammunition and 33 T-72 tanks, according to The New York Times. The newspaper scored an interview with a man claiming to speak for the pirates, Sugule Ali. (Transcript here.) Ali sounded a […]

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Pirates who seized the Ukrainian ship Faina on Thursday, and demanded a $20-million ransom, had no idea it was carrying small arms, rockets, ammunition and 33 T-72 tanks, according to The New York Times. The newspaper scored an interview with a man claiming to speak for the pirates, Sugule Ali. (Transcript here.)

Ali sounded a familiar refrain in the interview, claiming that his pirates were acting only out of goodwill, voluntarily protecting Somali waters from illegal fishing and smuggling -- you know, like an amateur U.S. Coast Guard. "Our name is the Central Region Coast Guard," Ali said.

While pirates have accidentally seized several vessels, including Faina, carrying shady cargoes or fishing illegally, most victim ships are traveling on legit business through international waters.

"We just saw a big ship," Ali said. "So we stopped it."

"We don't want these weapons to go to anyone in Somalia. Somalia has suffered from many years of destruction because of all these weapons.
We don't want that suffering and chaos to continue. We are not going to offload the weapons. We just want the money."

Ali denied reports that the pirates had quarreled among themselves, resulting in a shootout that killed three of them.

(Photo: AP)

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