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By Alisha Ryu
Nairobi, November 14, 2009 – An eyewitness account of an attempted plane
hijacking last week in Somalia's northern semi-autonomous Puntland
region suggests would-be hijackers were members of a pirate gang, whose
operations have been affected by the increased international naval
patrols in the Gulf of Aden.
Last Tuesday, about 30 passengers boarded a commercial plane in the
northeastern town of Bosasso for a short flight to neighboring Djibouti.
Among the passengers was Yusuf M. Hassan, a Somali-American journalist
and the former managing editor of Garowe Online Web site. Hassan tells
VOA he noticed two German journalists on board, but he says no one
noticed two young Somali men, sitting quietly in the first row.
"The plane was not in the air for more the three minutes when some guy
in the very front jumped up and, in the Somali language, said, 'This
plane has been hijacked.' When the pilot heard his very loud voice and a
woman in the front scream, the pilot closed and locked his door," he
said.
The move angered the would-be hijacker, who waved a handgun and fired at
the cockpit door several times. Hassan says the bullets glanced off the
door and ricocheted above the heads of screaming passengers.
"His demands were - one, he wants the plane landed in Las Qorey, and
two, he wants to keep the plane and the two German journalists," he
added. "I guess the rest of us were supposed to walk from Las Qorey to
wherever we had to walk to."
Las Qorey is a coastal town in the disputed Sanaag region, which
straddles Puntland and the breakaway republic of Somaliland, and is home
to a gang of pirates.
The gang made international headlines last June by capturing two German
tourists sailing off the coast of Yemen. The tourists were freed two
months later in exchange for a $1 million ransom.
Hassan says the Russian captain of the Daallo flight turned the plane,
making it appear it was flying toward Las Qorey. But the pilot was
taking the plane back to Bosasso. Hassan says the lead gunmen, unaware
his demand was being ignored, made a call on his cell phone as the plane
descended toward Bosasso airport.
"I remember him saying to whomever he was talking to, he said, 'Guys, do
you see us? The plane is landing.' I am thinking he is speaking to his
gang in Las Qorey, who are waiting," he said.
The plane landed safely in Bosasso. Surrounded by security forces, the
gunmen tried to escape from the plane hiding behind passengers, but they
were caught.
Hassan says through various contacts, he subsequently learned that at
least one of the gunmen was a member of the pirate group in Las Qorey,
which has had trouble seizing vessels for ransom in the well-patrolled
waters off Somalia's northern coast.
"My understanding is that because of NATO operations, the pirate gangs
have lost a lot of money. And any time the pirates do not seize enough
boats, they begin kidnapping western people," he explained.
More than 30 warships from 16 nations are patrolling the Gulf of Aden
and the surrounding area and their presence has had an effect on the
number of ships pirates have been able to seize. According to the
International Maritime Bureau, the number of successful hijacks has
dropped from an average of one in 6.4 vessels in 2008 to one in nine
vessels this year.
But the International Maritime Bureau reports the number of attempted
hijackings surged dramatically in 2009. Somali pirates are also shifting
their operations farther out to sea. On Monday, a Hong Kong-registered
oil tanker was attacked by pirates in the Indian Ocean, more than 1,800
kilometers off the Somali coast.
Source: VOA, November 11, 2009
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