Somali pirates free 36 hostages, claim $3M ransom

[xiinfaniin]

Somali pirates free 36 hostages, claim $3M ransom

 

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN and DANIEL WOOLLS

The Associated Press

 

 

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Pirates freed 36 crew members from a Spanish trawler Tuesday, and a self-proclaimed pirate said the hostage-takers were paid $3.3 million in ransom. Spain's prime minister did little to deny a payment was made - one reason the lucrative attacks are on the rise.

 

Shortly after being freed, the tuna boat Alakrana steamed out to sea under the protection of two Spanish warships. All 36 crew were reported to be in good health after more than six weeks in captivity.

 

The release came despite the fact that two Somali pirates in Spanish custody soon will stand trial for kidnapping and related charges.

 

A Somali villager named Ali Ahmed Salad said 12 armed pirates left the ship shortly after noon Tuesday and joined colleagues near the pirate town of Haradhere.

 

Ali Gab, a self-proclaimed pirate, told The Associated Press that a boat had delivered $3.3 million in ransom. Gab said pirates began leaving the ship shortly afterward, and that a Spanish warship nearby watched the proceedings.

 

The EU Naval Force said the Alakrana had made its way to the open sea late Tuesday, accompanied by two Spanish warships.

 

"Alakrana stated in her call that all the pirates had disembarked the ship and that she had sufficient fuel," the force said in a statement. "The captain also reported that the crew of 36 were in good health."

 

In Spain, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was evasive when asked if the government had taken part in payment of a ransom. "The government did what it had to do," he told a news conference in Madrid after talks with the president of Hungary.

 

"The important thing is that the sailors will be back with us," Zapatero said. "The first obligation of a country, of the government of a state, is to save the lives of its countrymen."

 

In April 2008, the Spanish government reportedly paid a ransom of $1.2 million to win the release of another Spanish trawler seized by pirates off Somalia, that time with a crew of 26. The ordeal lasted a week.

 

The reported ransom payment demonstrates why pirate attacks have been on the rise. The millions of dollars a successful hijacking can bring is a windfall in impoverished and war-ravaged Somalia.

 

The trawler had been seized Oct. 2 with 16 Spaniards, eight Indonesians and 12 crew from five African countries aboard.

 

The sister of the second-in-command of the Alakrana spoke to her brother after his release.

 

"They are not all that excited because it took them by surprise and they still cannot really believe it," said Argi Galbarriatu, the sister of Iker Galbarriatu. "He told me the word to describe it is that they are relieved, and eager to get to port and come home."

 

The pirates holding the Alakrana had been pressing for the release of two colleagues who were captured by Spanish naval forces a day after the hijacking and eventually brought to Madrid to face charges.

 

The Spanish government has been working feverishly to find some sort of legal formula that would allow it to try them and send them back to Somalia quickly in hopes of appeasing the pirates who remained in control of the trawler.

 

In the end, the hostages were released with the two Somali suspects still in custody in Madrid. They were formally charged with kidnapping and related charges Monday.

 

Pirates hold around a dozen ships and more than 200 crew. Attacks have increased in recent weeks as the monsoon season subsided. An international flotilla of warships now patrols the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden, but pirates continue to carry out attacks because of the millions of dollars that can be made from a successful hijacking.

 

In the latest attempted hijackings, pirates attacked two vessels Monday off East Africa, successfully capturing one of the ships and its crew of 28 North Koreans, officials said Tuesday.

 

The pirates attacked a chemical tanker named the MV Theresa with the 28 crew members on board, the European Union's anti-piracy force said. The vessel, which was operated out of Singapore, had been heading to the Kenyan port town of Mombasa. The EU force did not say what kind of chemicals were on board.

 

In a second incident Monday, pirates attacked a Ukrainian cargo ship with AK-47 rifles and rocket propelled grenades after two small skiffs detached from a mother ship. Harbour, the EU Naval Force spokesman, said that private security guards on board fired on the pirates, wounding two. The pirates then broke off the attack, the force said, Harbour said the Ukrainian ship was not hijacked.

 

A Somali man who claims to be a spokesman for the pirates, Gedi Ali, said Tuesday that pirates had captured the Ukrainian ship. Ali also said two pirates were wounded in the attack.

 

---

 

Associated Press Writer Daniel Woolls contributed from Madrid.

[xiinfaniin]

Ali Gab, a self-proclaimed pirate, told The Associated Press that a boat had delivered $3.3 million in ransom. Gab said pirates began leaving the ship shortly afterward, and that a Spanish warship nearby watched the proceedings.

 

...In Spain, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was evasive when asked if the government had taken part in payment of a ransom. "The government did what it had to do," he told a news conference in Madrid after talks with the president of Hungary.

[Che -Guevara]

How much did Oodweyne make today

[Abdulladiif Al-Fiqih]

^Rag rag dhaley dheh!! Adeer saas aa larabaa.

 

Xiinow, adeer nimankaas makubiiraa meejaasbey bahashii innooggu dhowdahaye? wacadale check 5 maalmood lasuggi iyo xamaali inaan bukurtada fiqrigga laggu jabinayn

 

Dee dhinacakalena, niman khayraadkoodii badooda difaacanaya unnbaan noqonaynaa dhinacna bukurtaan tuureynaa wadaad AT&T adeerkii ah oo the city of fat stones laggu sheegayeyna oo geela reer awoowgey xalaaleyn jirey marka lasoo dhacana qiilbaan inoo soo wadiine (:

[Kamaavi]

lol@che

[xiinfaniin]

lool@wadaad AT&T adeerkii ah oo geela reer awoowgey xalaaleyn jirey marka lasoo dhacana qiilbaan inoo soo wadiine

 

 

Abdiyow awoowe, anaa marag ka ah in meesha lacagi taal, laakiin waxaan ka baqayyaa biyya kulul in nalaku buufiyyo

 

Che, you are a mind reader

[nuune]

lool@Abdiladif

 

 

Kuwaa maalin dhaweed makhaayad ka lahaa hadii reer Soomaaliland doonayaan iney ku takhasusaan cilmiga Pirteska oy maraakiibta soo dhacaan, ha yimaadaan kulliyadaha ka furan Puntland si ay u bartaan qaabka iyo habka iyo tacliinta la xiriirta pireteska, waana iney iska bixiyaan tuition feeska.

[Mintid Farayar]

Aduunkii baa Soomaalidii kala bartey:

 

Qaar Xalaal ku nool, iyo Qaar Xaaraan ku nool.

 

Yaa Dunya...

 

Magacii Soomaalida dad baa aasay...

 

Weliba ku leeyihiin aan wax isku darsano. Cajiib..

[xiinfaniin]

M Yare is lecturing about morals now, after twenty years of buttressing his case with Somalia's civil war tragedy . Alas he has nothing to show for.

 

Piracy is the political and security fallouts of Somalia’s failed state. It’s not the norm for a particular community nor it is undefeatable.

[Abdulladiif Al-Fiqih]

^^Nuune, why SNMland isn't doing the same? Meesha lacagbaa kudhaaftey. Too bad the city of fat stones does not have ocean...hadaan bixilahaa

 

 

I am not sure where I was listening the other, it could be BBC or VOA but I heard this pirate leader who was bragging, I might add rightfully so.

 

Wuxuu dhahay, "maalintii aan aad isu cajab galiyey waxay ahayd, maalintiin intaan markab weyn, hubaysan, meelfogna joogga aan weerarey, xoog kumuquuniyey, tabeetana soo kaxaystey".

 

Duqa markii hore arin culusbay ula ekeyd balse markii dambe wuu qaadanwaayey siday wax udhacee.

[xiinfaniin]

looooooool@maalintii aan aad isku mahadiyey

[The Zack]

$3 million? It is like winning your own lottery. That is big money.

[nuune]

^^ It is actually 3M Euros

 

lool@markab hubeysan weeraray

 

 

Abdi, I think why Somaliland isnt doing the same, cuz the experience is not there, meesha qualification baa la rabaa dhanka oceanology, dooni yar iska qaado ma ahan, kolleey walaalaheen wey ka qadeen ghaniimada

[Che -Guevara]

Xaraan is dumping toxic waste on Somali shores and emptying the Somali sea of any life!

[Mintid Farayar]

Xiin,

 

After 18 years, I still have a clean shirt and you're wallowing in the gutter (metaphorically, of course.. LOL).

 

Why do you think that is, Boowe ??

 

The leading news of the day coming out of one place is an agreement between Hargeisa University and Carlton University (Ottawa) while from the other side... Well, I won't even venture there. This is the reality, my friend.

 

The only way to cure the sickness is to look in the mirror. And that's REAL ADVICE!

 

Sometimes the truth hurts...