Berbera, Somaliland, June 11, 2011 – Six Somali pirates were jailed by a Somaliland court for capturing an Italian vessel in April 2008 and receiving a $3 million ransom.

The Berbera Regional Court gave five of the pirates eight- year jail terms, while a sixth received a sentence of five years after he confessed to the crime, Osman Ibrahim Direi, head of the court, said yesterday. The six men were captured by Somaliland’s coast guard on March 24 near the coastal town of Maydh.

Somaliland, a breakaway enclave in northern Somalia, in March opened a maximum-security prison built with United Nations funding to incarcerate convicted pirates.

An increase in pirate attacks, spurred by a 36-fold jump in ransom payments in five years, has threatened vessels carrying 20 percent of world trade and raised expenses for shippers. Costs linked to piracy may reach $13 billion to $15 billion by 2015 as global trade rebounds and pirates operate over wider areas, according to research firm Geopolicity Inc.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohamoud Ali Mohamed via Nairobi at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Source: Bloomberg

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