I started to see this “letter” supposedly written by the leader of a Somali Pirate Action Group (PAG) pop up on a few of my regular slapstick humor websites and immediately thought to myself, “there is absolutely no freakin’ way this is real.”
Then again, I thought, I’ve covered enough piracy news over the years here on gCaptain to know that with Somali pirates, anything, and I mean anything, is possible. After all, I don’t own any ships, and fortunately have never received a phone call telling me that one of them has been hijacked for millions in ransom by some third world thugs.
That of course, got me wondering…
If you’re a shipowner whose ship was just hijacked, how is the first contact made? Do the pirates just give you a call with their demands? Does your respective Navy break the news to you? Do you read about it on gCaptain and think to yourself, “sh#t, that’s my ship”?
I had never really thought about it, so I did some research.
Sure enough, a quick google search and I’m on this Reuters article (and the source of the alleged letter) and believe it or not, this is no joke.
Reuters has obtained the following letter, on a nice letterhead of course, from “Jamal”, leader of “Jamal’s Pirate Action Group” in Somalia who successfully hijacked an unidentified tanker at some point during the surge in piracy that has occurred off the coast of Somali over the last 5 years. The letter was allegedly presented to the owner of a hijacked oil tanker and the owner’s insurer after the ship was taken. Due to the commercial sensitivities, the names of the insurer and ship owner were redacted from the document, as was the size of the ransom request.
Without further ado, here is the letter that Jamal sent to the shipowner:
The European Union’s counter-piracy naval operation off the Somali coast, known as Operation Atalanta, has reiterated its warning that ransom payments could potentially exacerbate the piracy issue off the Horn...
By Abdiqani Hassani (Reuters) – Somali pirates released a hijacked ship, MV Abdullah, and its crew of 23 early on Sunday after a $5 million ransom was paid, according to...
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian Navy said it had freed the 23-strong crew of an Iranian fishing vessel which was seized by armed pirates off Somalia. The Al-Kambar 786 was southwest of...
March 31, 2024
Total Views: 6854
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.