Rich from piracy - the man who's 'just helping'
Source: Agencies |
May 14, 2010, Friday
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IT'S a job few people can list on their resume: pirate middleman.
A Somali who used to import soft drinks and didn't go beyond seventh grade says he's made hundreds of thousands of dollars brokering deals to free ships and their cargo after pirates attack.
The 32-year-old Somali, who would be identified only by his alias, Abdi Sheik, says he helped gain the release earlier this year of a supertanker carrying an estimated US$150 million of crude oil. He claims to have successfully negotiated the release of an arms-laden Ukrainian ship and the 20 sailors onboard.
In an interview, he tried to justify his role, downplaying that he was dealing with criminals and that his own actions may be dubious.
"I'm just helping poor sailors caught up in a tug-of-war between greedy pirates and selfish ship owners," Sheik said. "I don't think I'm a criminal because I'm not part of the doers nor part of the receivers."
Piracy is big business in Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since 1991. Somali pirates have collected far more than US$100 million in the past several years. The International Maritime Bureau says sea attacks worldwide surged 39 percent in 2009 to 406 cases, the highest in six years.
Sheik, who hails from northeastern Somalia where the pirates are based, refused to specify how much he's made as a middleman but indicated it was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He described meetings held inside dark SUVs in which trust was scarce. Multimillion-dollar ransoms are haggled over like carpets at a market, he said.
Sheik said he first got into the business when a casual acquaintance from his clan called to ask for his help in releasing a Ukrainian vessel and its 20 crew members hijacked in September 2008. The job grew from there and by December 2009 he was being asked to help free the Greek oil supertanker Maran Centaurus.
The pirates started off asking for US$9 million. Sheik, acting as a go-between, said that after weeks of back-and-forth he suggested to the Greek ship owner's negotiators they offer US$4.5 million. Sheik said the pirates responded: "Add one more million and the deal is done."
Two weeks later, planes dropped US$5.5 million in floatable boxes. The vessel was freed the next day.
Sheik says negotiators try to get involved once there's been a report of a new hijacking, contacting a ship owner to say the vessel can be released for a daily negotiating fee.
Middlemen like him are usually paid by the ship owners.
A Somali who used to import soft drinks and didn't go beyond seventh grade says he's made hundreds of thousands of dollars brokering deals to free ships and their cargo after pirates attack.
The 32-year-old Somali, who would be identified only by his alias, Abdi Sheik, says he helped gain the release earlier this year of a supertanker carrying an estimated US$150 million of crude oil. He claims to have successfully negotiated the release of an arms-laden Ukrainian ship and the 20 sailors onboard.
In an interview, he tried to justify his role, downplaying that he was dealing with criminals and that his own actions may be dubious.
"I'm just helping poor sailors caught up in a tug-of-war between greedy pirates and selfish ship owners," Sheik said. "I don't think I'm a criminal because I'm not part of the doers nor part of the receivers."
Piracy is big business in Somalia, which has not had a functioning government since 1991. Somali pirates have collected far more than US$100 million in the past several years. The International Maritime Bureau says sea attacks worldwide surged 39 percent in 2009 to 406 cases, the highest in six years.
Sheik, who hails from northeastern Somalia where the pirates are based, refused to specify how much he's made as a middleman but indicated it was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He described meetings held inside dark SUVs in which trust was scarce. Multimillion-dollar ransoms are haggled over like carpets at a market, he said.
Sheik said he first got into the business when a casual acquaintance from his clan called to ask for his help in releasing a Ukrainian vessel and its 20 crew members hijacked in September 2008. The job grew from there and by December 2009 he was being asked to help free the Greek oil supertanker Maran Centaurus.
The pirates started off asking for US$9 million. Sheik, acting as a go-between, said that after weeks of back-and-forth he suggested to the Greek ship owner's negotiators they offer US$4.5 million. Sheik said the pirates responded: "Add one more million and the deal is done."
Two weeks later, planes dropped US$5.5 million in floatable boxes. The vessel was freed the next day.
Sheik says negotiators try to get involved once there's been a report of a new hijacking, contacting a ship owner to say the vessel can be released for a daily negotiating fee.
Middlemen like him are usually paid by the ship owners.
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