Hunt of the Sea Wolves

UPI

The owners of a Ukrainian arms ship hijacked off Somalia more than two months ago have agreed to pirates’ $20 million ransom demands, an official says.

The Kenya Seafarers Association said Sunday that the MV Faina, which was carrying a cargo of Soviet-era tanks and other munitions to Kenya, will be freed as soon as its owners can work out a payment schedule with the Somali pirates who seized it Sept. 25 in the Gulf of Aden, CNN reported.

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As if out of the pages of “Hunt of the Sea Wolves,” death came from the sea when terrorists hijacked the fishing vessel Kuber after killing its captain, and then landed where they attacked nine targets and killed nearly 200 innocent people. - John Chadwell

The Hindu

India’s intelligence services had delivered at least three precise warnings that a major terrorist attack on Mumbai was imminent, highly-placed government sources have told The Hindu.

However, weaknesses in police manpower and training allowed the attacks to proceed, the sources said.

On November 18, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) intercepted a satellite phone conversation, in which a so-far unidentified caller notified his handlers that he was heading for Mumbai along with a certain cargo.

RAW analysts, however, rapidly determined that the apparently innocuous call was made to a Lahore phone number known to be used by the Lashkar-e-Taiba’s main military commander for operations targeting India, who is known only by the code-names ‘Muzammil’ and ‘Abu Hurrera.’

Mumbai Police investigators have determined that the call was made from a satellite phone that was eventually found abandoned on the Porbandar-based fishing boat Kuber, hijacked by the terrorists mid-ocean, most likely on November 19. The satellite phone also contains records of several other calls to Lashkar handlers in Pakistan.

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BBC News

Somali pirates holding a ship full of military hardware have reached a deal with its Ukrainian owners to release it, reports say.

Gunmen seized the Kenya-bound MV Faina, carrying 33 tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition, on 24 September.

A pirate spokesman said releasing the ship was “a matter of time”, but gave no details of a ransom payment.

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Al Jazeera

Ship owners around the world are hiring private security firms to accompany their fleets around the Horn of Africa following the dramatic increase in piracy in the region.

Though Somali pirates were reported to have attacked merchant ships a few years ago, their activities have significantly increased in recent months.

This has fuelled a boom in business for maritime security firms, but also led to an increase in piracy insurance costs.

Policies have risen from $3,000 for a whole year to as much as $60,000 for a single journey through the Gulf of Aden.

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U.S. News & World Report

Before the motley bands of rifle-wielding toughs off the coast of Somalia accelerated their attacks on cargo ships in one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, it was hard for some people to talk seriously about pirates. In fact, a number of reports on the most recent pirate attacks still include a reference to Johnny Depp.

But as the Somali marauders prove, modern-day piracy is far from the supposedly romantic business that inspired Daniel Defoe, not to mention innumerable Halloween costumes.

In fact, historians and legal experts suggest, the centuries-old fight against piracy could go a long way toward improving the fight against terrorism. There are many lessons in Britain’s 18th century war on piracy that could apply to combating terrorists, they say, much as antipiracy treaties can be instructive for those seeking to send Guantánamo Bay detainees either home or to the hangman.

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Russian News and Information Agency

Russia’s Neustrashimy (Fearless) missile frigate will continue protecting commercial vessels from pirate attacks off the Somali coast for another month, a senior officer on board the ship said on Friday.

In October, Russia dispatched the Neustrashimy from its Northern Fleet to Somalia’s coast to protect shipping in the country’s waters, where pirates frequently capture ships for ransom.

According to the UN, Somali pirates have attacked over 120 ships so far this year, resulting in the seizure of 39 vessels and the capture of at least 600 merchant seamen for ransom. The east African nation has been without a functioning government since 1991 and has no navy to police its coastline.

“We are planning to remain in the Gulf of Aden for another month, and our future deployment will depend on the decision adopted by the Navy command,” Capt. 1st Rank Oleg Gurinov said.

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Yahoo News

The terrorst who struck in Mumbai may not be pirates (though they did approach the city from the sea), but they’re the same breed of killers as those depicted in “Hunt of the Sea Wolves.” The Indian commandos who are hunting them down in the hotels, however, are the same men who track down and destroy the Abu Sayyaf terrorists in my novel and screenplay. So I thought I’d give these brave warriors some coverage here. — John Chadwell

Indian commandos fought to regain control of India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, on Thursday after a highly-coordinated attack by armed militants that the prime minister blamed on a “terrorist” group outside the country.

Police said 119 people were killed and 315 were wounded when a small army of gunmen — at least some of whom arrived by sea — fanned out across Mumbai to attack sites popular with tourists and businessmen, including two luxury hotels.

Commandos were fighting room-to-room battles in the two hotels to rescue people trapped by the militants, police said.

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The rusting freighter was on fire from stem to stern. A ragged-looking gang of thirty Asian marauders fought determinedly against the eighteen Indian Marine Commando Force, or MARCOS, operators. The pirates, armed with ancient weapons, ranging from shotguns to a Thompson submachine gun, left behind by some nameless American soldier in an equally nameless conflict somewhere in Southeast Asia, to an assortment of machetes and spears, were being forced across the burning decks toward the bow.

            As the operators who were already aboard the ship pushed relentlessly forward, others fast- roped down to the deck from a hovering Sea King Mk 42C helicopter. The pirate with the shotgun fired up at one of the operators as he slid down the heavy rope, holding on with one hand and his legs, and firing his Sterling MP-4 sub-machine gun.

The heavy shotgun slugs hit the operator below his armored vest, cutting him in half. His upper torso hit the deck, while his legs fell into the sea. His last fleeting thought was to kill the man who killed him. But his strength quickly waned and his vision dimmed as his blood flowed across a cargo hold hatch.

The weapon slipped from his fingers as another operator hit the deck and pulled his dying comrade’s body behind a winch motor. With one last look and a squeeze on the dying man’s shoulder, the operator eased his friend into death.

            He stood and steadied himself against a cargo boom mast. In a single effortless motion, he slipped off a sleek, high-tech carbon compound bow, pulled an aluminum arrow with a razor-edged, cyanide-tipped head, and sent it streaking across the ship into the chest of the man who had killed his friend.

            The pirate with the Thompson fired up at the helicopter. Three holes stitched the side just below the pilot. He jerked the controls, causing the chopper to bank sharply and disappeared into the night sky.

            At six feet two, Captain Anumita Roy Vajpayee led a corporal and a sergeant through the flames, as he fired his MP-5 sub-machine gun, killing two of the pirates as he sprinted up the starboard ladder to the next deck. They spread out inside the starboard passageway. The corporal kicked in a wooden door, stepped into the mess decks, and was nearly decapitated as a crazed-looking Chinese pirate swung a rusted saber at him. The young operator froze, just as Captain Vajpayee shoved him aside and shot the man twice through the heart and once between the eyes. The old pirate dropped at the corporal’s feet.

Indian Commandos

    This is the opening of my novel, “Hunt of the Sea Wolves.” These Indian Special Forces operatives are the kind of men who are fighting the terrorists in Mumbai that attacked hotels, hospitals and restaurants, killing more than 125 people. The story they’ve told of fighting the terrorists room by room through the hotels is dramatic and very similar to the action in Sea Wolves. I couldn’t have chosen a better group of real-world fighters to hunt down the terrorists in my fictional account of maritime terrorism. — John Chadwell

The New Straits Times

INCREASED pirate attacks on the high seas could not have come at a worse time for world trade and the struggling global economy. Increased pirate attacks along major trade routes have resulted in the “largest crisis faced by the merchant navy industry”.

With no immediate end in sight to the economic meltdown, declining economic growth rates, slowing world trade and the credit crisis, the hijacking of ships by increasingly brazen pirates is another body blow to the shipping industry and to international commerce.

The pirates have stepped up their activities in recent months. The rising incidence of hijackings along the coast of Somalia is like a “perfect storm” unleashing its full force on a weakened and fragile global economy — and this during a period of rising costs and declining world trade.

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Guardian

Three British security guards on board a chemical tanker hijacked today by Somali pirates have been rescued by helicopter, after jumping into the sea to escape.

Diplomats, who could not be identified, said a warship on patrol nearby had sent helicopters to intervene in the attack, but they arrived after the pirates had taken control of the Liberian-flagged ship.

The diplomats – who did not specify which country the warship came from – said that 25 Indian and two Bangladeshi crew members remain on board the vessel.

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