RIYADH, 5 April 2007 — African sea pirates have hustled a number of unsuspecting Saudi businessmen out of more than SR50 million by selling them ships they do not own, according to Navy Capt. Muhammad Abood Babaydan.
Capt. Babaydan said pirates, armed with advanced counterfeit skills and hustling techniques, have replaced old conventional “walk the plank” type sea outlaws. Comic book characters such as Captain Hook, who terrorized Atlantic Ocean traders in the 18th and 19th centuries, are no longer a distant memory of the past.
In a continually developing world, sea pirates have developed new and sophisticated methods to target unsuspecting people, the Arabic-language daily Al-Riyadh reported.
“There are other cases that are currently being reviewed by international courts that involve other means of pirating such as switching original expensive products for products with no value. Businessmen need to be careful and aware of the menace at sea by not becoming easy prey,” said Capt. Babaydan.
“Some of the methods include shipping items other than the ones agreed upon. Businessmen are left shocked after they realize their imported cartons are full of stones and paper,” he said.
“Nowadays, pirate vessels don’t necessarily attack ships as they did in the past. Crews and vessels transporting goods are known to change course at sea and drop goods off elsewhere. Some pirates have been known to sell entire boats with the goods intact only for the buyer to later realize that the ship did not belong to the seller,” said Babaydan, adding that many pirates have a tendency to steal goods and then report them lost at sea.
He added that old fashion pirates, who take ships by force, still operate in certain areas such as Somalia where a number of vessels have been reported to have been taken over by pirates, who hold the ship, the crew and the goods ransom in exchange for a safe return.
“International maritime organizations are in a continuous war with sea pirates. They hold annual conferences that discuss the new methods used by sea pirates and ways to combat the threat posed at sea,” said Capt. Babaydan.
“They are also seeking to establish new laws to prosecute pirates. There are courts that handle such cases. In Saudi Arabia the Court of Grievances is the specialized body that deals with such problems,” he added
The captain also called for more investment in the Kingdom’s sea transportation industry. “This is an industry that is seeing relatively low investments compared to other transportation businesses,” he said, adding that Saudis should own fleets according to the size of seafaring trade in the Kingdom.
He added that local companies only do 4 percent of the total sea transportation business.
