TrendModern-day piracy poses growing threats, challenges
Forget Captain Kidd, wooden legs, or treasure maps; modern pirates are equipped with supercharged speedboats, large-caliber weaponry, and all the radio intercept technology they need to identify and locate valuable ocean-going booty; on 9/11 we saw what damage a jumbo jet could do when used as a weapon; how about a supertanker as a weapon?
High-seas piracy did not disappear with Captain Kidd, and its contemporary version has nothing to do with wooden legs or treasure maps. We have written several stories about piracy off the lawless coast of lawless Somalia (see, for example, HS Daily Wire stories of 30 September 2008 and 16 June 2008), but the recent hijacking of a large oil tanker raises the stakes to a new level.
The problem is so serious now that the International Chamber of Commerce’s Web site has launched a Weekly Piracy Report. The problem is serious because of the fear that terrorists could hijack a tanker carrying thousands of tons of fuel or hazardous chemicals and use it to attack a port, or simply sink it in a shipping artery like the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Gibraltar, or the Suez or Panama canals. This could cause massive economic disruption. “The global economy is now wholly reliant on the smooth flow of shipping,” says Dominic Armstrong, managing director of the research and intelligence department at Aegis, a U.K. company that provides risk assessment for international shipping firms and insurers. “And we know we’re dealing with a highly imaginative enemy.”
New Scientist offers a very good discussion of the emerging problem of hi-tech piracy: Modern-day pirates come equipped with supercharged speedboats, large-caliber weaponry, and all the radio intercept technology they need to identify and locate valuable ocean-going booty. Pirates often bribe shipping agents to pass on details of routes and cargoes — to the extent that they can quickly locate valuable goods in specific containers even on large vessels. They use VHF radios to monitor shipping, attack in wooden vessels that do not show up on radar, and wear wet suits to hide themselves from infrared security cameras. Sometimes they issue false distress signals to lure unsuspecting vessels within range. Once on board a ship, they quickly smash communications equipment that could be used to raise the alarm. Booty is usually sold off through crooked merchants in ports with lax customs or security.
The threat is only growing. In the first nine months of this year there were 205 acts of piracy worldwide — and more than 280 crew were killed, kidnapped, or disappeared. This is a three-fold increase compared to a decade ago. “What has changed, even from three years ago, is that pirates are increasingly well armed, ruthless and sophisticated
