MOGADISHU: Somali pirates have demanded a $35 million ransom for the release of a Ukrainian freighter carrying a shipment of tanks and grenade launchers, a regional maritime official said yesterday.
The MV Faina was seized Thursday with a crew of 21 people on board as it neared the Kenyan port of Mombasa with a cargo of T-72 battle tanks, grenade launchers and ammunition destined for Kenya’s military.
“They are demanding $35 million in ransom, but I think it is the start of the negotiation,” said Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program.
Piracy is rife off the coasts of war-torn Somalia but this incident has threatened to make it a more global security problem with Russia now sending a warship to rescue the stricken vessel, three of whose crew are Russian.
An official from the semi-autonomous northeastern region of Puntland said the freighter was headed yesterday for pirate strongholds in central Somalia.
“The pirates are heading toward Hobyo and Haradere and it seems that they are looking for chances to unload any light military supplies on board the ship,” said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, an adviser to the Puntland presidency.
Residents of Haradere said boats of pirates were seen early yesterday heading for Hobyo. “I saw heavily armed pirates on board several speedboats heading toward Hobyo where the hijacked ship is believed to be coming,” said local fisherman Adan Nile.
In a sign of the scale of the problem, Somali pirates holding more than a dozen merchant ships hostage released a Japanese vessel yesterday for a ransom of $2 million, a local official said.
Egypt’s MENA news agency also reported that pirates had released an Egyptian ship with 25 crew on board which was hijacked earlier this month off Puntland.
And an international anti-piracy watchdog said pirates have seized a Greek chemical tanker with 19 crew members off Somalia’s coast. The tanker, carrying refined petroleum from Europe to the Middle East, was ambushed Friday in the Gulf of Aden, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center based in Malaysia.
He said the pirates chased and fired at the ship before boarding it.
