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Mogadishu, October 17, 2009 – Somali pirates holding
a Spanish tuna trawler for the past 12 days on Wednesday demanded four
million dollars for the release of the ship and its 36-member crew, one
of the pirates told AFP.
The pirates also demanded, as a pre-condition of any deal, the release
of two colleagues who are in Spanish custody, Abdi Yare, a 30-year-old
pirate told AFP by phone from coastal Harardhere village, off which the
Spanish trawler, the Alakrana, is anchored.
Harardhere is considered to be the second-biggest base of operations for
Somali pirates after the port of Eyl.
"We also demand four million US dollars (2.8 million Euros) as a payment
for illegally fishing in Somalia. After that we will release the fishing
boat. Unless those conditions are met we will not make any deal," he
said.
"The amount of fish they have stolen from Somalia is more than the
amount of the ransom we have demanded," he added.
Two pirates held in Spanish custody were captured by the Spanish navy
after they left the Alakrana on a smaller boat.
They arrived Monday in Spain where prosecutors want to try them for
their role in the October 2 hijacking.
The 100-metre (358-foot) Alakrana was seized in the high seas between
Somalia and the Seychelles as calmer waters at the end of the monsoon
season made vessels more vulnerable to attacks.
The vessel, whose 36 crew members comprise nationals of Spain, Ghana,
Indonesia, Madagascar, Senegal and the Seychelles, was far from a zone
protected by the Spanish military at the time of the attack, Spanish
officials said.
Spanish fleet owners have requested to have marines stationed on board
their fishing vessels, arguing that French vessels have since July had
marines on board.
Spain's defence ministry has said Spain cannot station its marines on
fishing trawlers, as France is doing, because Spanish law does not allow
the military to be used for protecting private property.
Last month Madrid did allow the private security firms which protect
Spanish fishing boats from Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean to use
long-range weapons.
After the seizure of the Alakrana, an official with Ecoterra
International, an environmental group that also monitors piracy, said
they were probing whether it was a case of illegal fishing or just an
act of piracy.
The latest hijacking brings to at least five the number of vessels in
the hands of Somali pirates. The others include a Taiwanese fishing
vessel and Ukrainian, German and Turkish freighters.
According to Ecoterra International, at least 163 attacks have been
carried out by Somali pirates since the start of 2009 alone, 47 of them
successful hijackings.
Last year, more than 130 merchant ships were attacked, an increase of
more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime
Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
Source: AFP, Oct. 14, 2009
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