EXTREME MEASURES AGAINST PIRACY

EXTREME MEASURES AGAINST PIRACY

The coalition government has told industry chiefs that they need to take extreme measures to tackle the rapidly increasing problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. This includes a shocking recommendation ‘that Somali mother ships carrying gangs of pirates must be sunk even if it means hostages are killed with them’.

40% of the world’s oil comes through the pirate zone. If the pirates are allowed to continue they could theoretically put a strangle-hold on the trade and raise the price of oil even further.

Veteran news reported Tom Mangold said in a BBC Radio 4 report that ‘there are now around 2,000 Somali pirates hi-jacking the world's economy who are funded, in part, by a “pirate stock exchange” in which investors ashore pile in cash to various gangs and then get a dividend if the gangs are successful in obtaining a ransom.’ He added that there is strong suspicion that the ransom money is helping to back al Queda and therefore the US court should prosecute corporations that pay pirate ransoms as they are technically funding terrorism.

So far piracy has cost the world economy and estimated £7billion.

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