Posted on 05/06/2010 7:28:11 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
MOSCOW: Russian forces freed a hijacked Russian oil tanker and rescued its crew in a helicopter-backed operation on Thursday that killed a Somali pirate, authorities said.
Russian investigators said 10 captured pirates, who seized the China-bound MV Moscow University in the Gulf of Aden, will be brought to Moscow for prosecution.
They hijacked the tanker on Wednesday with its 23-member crew and a cargo of crude oil worth $52 million. Its rescue will please the Kremlin, which has been seeking to revive Russia"s naval muscle far from its shores despite limited resources.
"Measures are being undertaken to bring the detained pirates to Moscow," the Investigative Committee of the Prosector General"s office said on official site sledcomproc.ru.
The European Union"s naval force said the Russian warship Marshal Shaposhnikov had sent in a helicopter that returned fire after being shot at by pirates.
Eventually the pirates surrendered and a boarding team from the Marshal Shaposhnikov arrived on board the tanker. A spokeswoman for the tankers owner, Novorossiysk Shipping Co, said the crew survived the 20-hour siege by hiding in a safe room inaccessible to the hijackers.
The Russians have the right idea.
Take these buttheads back home where they can be punished instead of turning them over to a country that will turn them loose. Better yet shoot them and drop them all in the sea.
Never bring an AK-47 to a helicopter gunship battle...
Another post on this forum reported earlier today that the skinnies were set adrift in an inflatable boat with the navagation equipment removed........................what is the truth here?
Gotta love it. The pirates are hating life right now! Oh and no more Russian tankers will be hijacked I bet!
I'm willing to wager against the pirates making it to shore...
The Russians only killed one?
I hope it has a hole in it.
This article is a copy of the AP story. I’m going to go with RIA Novesti, the Russian news agency.
The Russians don’t p***y around on these matters, as the kidnappers in Beirut found out a couple of decades ago.
Why not chum the waters, break out the videocam, and dangle them over the side, to the enjoyment of all? The YouTube would do plenty for deterrance, I’ll tell you that.
Let’s follow the Russian lead on piracy. We will see a sharp decline soon. I would not take the pirates to the US for prosecution. I would setup a military tribunal on board ships and equip each ship with a retractable plank for carrying out swift justice.
There are now 52 pirated ships, floundering of the Somali Coast, following the move the U.N. to start paying the pirate villages $2 Million per year to cease the troublesome enterprise. The effort to spread the wealth of the fleets home nations seemed to have the unintended consequence of promoting the bad behavior, in a misguided effort to sustain the payments, rather than deterring the rogue practice.
[Im practicing to write for the NYT.]
>will be brought to Moscow for prosecution.
I’d rather be dragged to the Klingon homeworld ...
When enough pirates and their vessels just start disappearing without a trace... The word will get around that maybe they want to find a different line of work, one with a longer life expectancy and a retirement plan.
I heard a couple of rumours about that. One had the kidnappers returned to their village: just their heads. The other said that commandos took their village hostage and started executing family members of the kidnappers...
Not sure I believe either one, obviously one or both is false. However, I like the idea that life-or-death actions have life-or-death consequences. Not a fair trial with a court-appointed mouthpiece to ensure your rights aren't trampled on, followed by a lifetime of 3 squares a day on my dime. No, instead there are serious, you-made-a-bad-choice-now-live(or die)-with-it consequences.
Gonna get pretty cold for the thin blooded Somali pirates in an icy Siberian winter unless Al Gore intervenes!
Now that there is funny I don’t care who you are..to quote the cable guy..
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