The attitude of the shipping companies is it is cheaper to pay ransom then face even more financial sanctions through liability for actually killing somebody.
Maybe made a moot point if all the world navies providing support in the area bill the shipping companies for providing security for this absurd rationale?
In past incidents of many here are different measures taken:
The INS Tabar, an Indian warship, encountered three pirate vessels approximately 320 miles south-west of the Omani coast in the Gulf of Aden. When the pirates fired upon the Tabar, it retaliated, sinking the “mother ship” and forcing the would-be hijackers to abandon one of their two speedboats. The second speedboat escaped and there is no casualty count at this time.
Pirates have attacked more than 130 merchant ships in the Gulf of Aden region in 2008. In an unrelated event five suspected Somali pirates have been extradited to Netherlands for the failed attempt to hijack the Dutch Cargo Freighter ‘Samanyulo’ on 2nd January 2009. They will be prosecuted before the Dutch criminal courts and could face up to nine years of imprisonment if found to be guilty with the group leaders punishment extending up to 12 years.
In another piracy-related event in the Gulf of Aden, the US Navy arrested seven suspected pirates on February 11, 2009, who were attempting to hijack the tanker ‘Polaris’. The seven suspects were taken aboard the USS Vella Gulf, which has been patrolling the area since January 2009 in responnse to the heightened piracy threat in the region. The US Navy intends to hand over the suspects to Kenya, which is setting up a new court system to try foreign pirates.
The ship the pirates hijacked this week was full of supplies and food for Kenya. Obama’s relatives WANT that ship to come ashore - and “O” ain’t happy that his family is going hungry (for just a few dollars.)
He’ll just print up another trillion to give to the hijackers - and the ship will be on it’s way.
Looks like not only is Brittania not the ruler of the waves anymore, they aren’t the rulers of a bathtub and a rubber ducky.
If their cowardice gets any greater, their war dead will rise up from their graves and emigrate to Australia.
They infest more than a few US airports like Denver for one. Somalis are like a cancer.
Let’s see...can’t detain, can’t return to UK for trial...
solution: sink their ships and boats and then release them to the sea.
VietVet
“to every problem there exists a solution which is neat, plausable...and wrong.”
If pirates claiming asylum is a problem, why not adopt the maxim “take no prisoners” in the original sense?