Pirates hijack Japanese!

[Taro Toporific]

[floatl][/floatl]

Somali pirates hijack Japanese ship
Reuters, 2007-10-29
Somali pirates have hijacked a Japanese-owned ship in the latest such seizure in the Horn of Africa nation's notoriously lawless waters, a regional maritime official said on Monday....more...

[kurohinge1]

. . . Somali pirates hijack Japanese ship . . .

US warships monitoring hijacked Japanese tanker off Somalia

US warships are monitoring a Japanese tanker which was hijacked by pirates last weekend off the coast of Somalia, a piracy watchdog said Wednesday.

"The pirates are still in control of the ship. They are believed to be armed," Noel Choong, the head of the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB's) Malaysia-based Piracy Reporting Centre, told AFP.

The vessel with 23 Korean, Filipino and Myanmar crew sent out a distress call that was relayed to the IMB last Sunday after pirates boarded the ship.

Choong said US warships in the area were observing the tanker which was in Somali territorial waters.

"Yes, coalition warships are monitoring the tanker," he said but declined further comments due to safety and security concerns for the seafarers.

On Tuesday, the US Navy helped the crew of a North Korean cargo vessel regain control of their freighter in a violent struggle after it was captured by pirates off Mogadishu port.

Maritime officials in Nairobi identified the Japanese vessel as the Panama-flagged Golden Mori and said it was seized about eight nautical miles off the Socotra archipelago.

The captain and chief engineer are Koreans, and the remainder of the crew are Filipinos and Myanmar nationals.

Choong said Somali waters were "dangerous to seafarers," and urged ships to keep 200 nautical miles off the coast and to be alert against "small and suspicious boats" that approach their ships.

"In the past two weeks, there has been a lot of attacks against ships off the coast of war-torn Somalia," he said.

There have been 31 attacks with one seafarer killed so far this year compared to 10 attacks and one seafarer killed last year.

. . . Somalia, which lies at the mouth of the Red Sea, has been without an effective government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre sparked a bloody power struggle . . . more

See also: Baht Pirates Prey on Japanese Seaman

[Greji]

US warships monitoring hijacked Japanese tanker off Somalia

Apparently acouple of boats pulled along side of the tanker to pick up some of the pirates and the US Navy immediately sent both of them to a dance party with Davy Jones.

Sorry for those of you who were hoping for negotiations to resolve this.

[Buraku]

[kurohinge1]

[kurohinge1]

Those pesky pirates are at it again:

Pirates attack Japanese tanker near Yemen

A major Japanese oil tanker was damaged Monday [21 April 2008] in a chase by heavily-armed pirates off the coasts of Somalia and Yemen but no one was injured, officials and crew members said.

The attack came a day after a Spanish tuna fishing boat carrying a crew of 26 was seized by pirates in waters off Somalia, which has not had an effective central government for more than 17 years.

The area is plagued by insecurity and considered to be among the most dangerous waterways for shipping in the world.

The 150,000-tonne tanker Takayama, with a crew of 23, sustained damage but was able to sail on its own power after the attack at about 4:40 am local time (0140 GMT), its owner and operator Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line) said here.

"We heard one big boom at first and then we were chased by the group for about an hour," a crew member told Japanese public broadcaster NHK. "We were attacked on the left and the right sides of the ship at least four times."

The attack occurred in international waters some 440 kilometres (275 miles) east of the Yemeni port of Aden, Japanese officials said.

"We have received information that the tanker was attacked by a small pirate ship with weapons like rocket launchers," chief Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.

. . . The ship suffered small punctures and leaked a small amount of oil, said Shousuke Hamada, who manages the ship's operations.

. . . The tanker was on its way to the Saudi port of Yanbu in the Red Sea after unloading oil at the South Korean port of Ulsan when the attack happened, the company said.

Maritime security is a major concern for Japan, the world's second largest economy, which relies on the Middle East for nearly all of its oil.

Choong said there had been nine attacks in the Gulf of Aden since February.

The International Maritime Bureau has urged ships plying the gulf to maintain strict 24-hour anti-piracy vigilance against small, suspicious boats coming towards them.

In early April, a luxury French cruise yacht with around 30 crew was hijacked off the coast of Somalia . . . more

And I'm sure the rumour is not true that when the pirates realised the crew were French, they actually gave up expecting a ransom and instead paid the UN to take them away. ]http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2260&stc=1&d=1162521168[/IMG]

[Mulboyne]

Don't mention the war.

CNN: German warship helped fend off pirate attack

A German warship was involved in fending off Monday's pirate attack on a Japanese tanker near the coast of Somalia, a spokesman for the German armed forces said Wednesday. The German warship Emden was in the area Monday when it received a distress call from the tanker Takayama, said Frigate Captain Roland Vogler-Wander, a spokesman for the German armed forces in Potsdam, Germany. The distress signal from the Takayama was "Tanker is being threatened by boat with weapons and being fired upon," Vogler-Wander said. He said the Emden was 50 nautical miles away at the time and immediately set a course for the Japanese ship at full speed. A helicopter also took off from the Emden for the Takayama, he said. Upon arrival, the attacking boat had already retreated, bullet holes were visible in the Takayama's hull, and fuel was leaking into the ocean, he said...more...

[kurohinge1]

. . . The German warship Emden . . .

There's apparently been 5 German warships called Emden and here's some interesting (if only to me) trivia, compliments of Wikipedia:

SMS Emden (1906) was a light cruiser that sank or captured 30 Allied merchant vessels and warships in WWI before being defeated by HMAS Sydney (1912) on 9 November 1914. Shortly prior to the war, in August 1913, she joined several British and Japanese warships (soon to be her enemies) on the Yangtze River to shell a rebel fort into submission and help put down a Chinese revolt. In WWI, a dummy fourth smokestack made the Emden closely resemble the British cruiser HMS Yarmouth and fooled many Allied ships. After her demise, a 105 mm gun from Emden was installed as a monument in Sydney's Hyde Park. The wreck itself was largely salvaged for scrap metal by a Japanese company in 1950. To this day in some parts of south India, a particularly daring and capable person is referred to in the vernacular as "Emden" and in Sri Lanka, "Emden" is the bogeyman with which mothers scare their children and is used to refer to a particularly obnoxious person - all derived from this ship.

The third light cruiser called Emden served in WWII and is known for having been captained by Karl Donitz. On 4 September 1939, the ship was damaged in a British air raid when a Bristol Blenheim bomber was hit by AA-fire and crashed into the foreship of Emden, killing the first 9 German sailors of World War II. The British pilot's name was . . . Flying Officer H. L. Emden!

The current (and fifth) reincarnation (mentioned in Mulboyne's post) is a frigate - F210 Emden - entering service in 1983.

[kurohinge1]

Those pesky pirates are at it again . . .

And again:

Somali pirates seize Japanese ship

Pirates have seized a Japanese vessel and its 21 crew members off the Somali coast, maritime officials said on Tuesday.

The Panama-flagged MV Stella Maris was seized on Sunday near Calula, a port in Somalia's breakaway northern region of Puntland, said Andrew Mwangura of the Seafarers Assistance Programme which monitors piracy in the region. He said the nationalities of the crew were not known.

The seizure followed two attempted hijackings off the pirate-infested Somali coast in the past week, said Noel Choong, head of the Malaysia-based International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre.

"There were 21 crew on board but none of them were Japanese nationals," Choong said.

Puntland presidential adviser Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade said 38 "heavily-armed pirates" stormed the ship in international waters in the Gulf of Aden.

"So far we are tracking them down. We want to know where they are going to stay with the ship," Qabowsade told AFP.

. . . A Japanese company had leased the ship, but it was registered in Panama and operated by Panamanians, he said.

The hijackers of the 52,000-tonne freighter are yet to make any ransom demands, Mwangura told AFP, adding that he had no information about its port of origin or destination. The ship -- managed by MMS Company of Japan -- was carrying lead and zinc.

. . . According to the International Maritime Bureau, more than 25 ships were seized off Somalia's 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) of coastline last year despite patrols by an international force based in Djibouti. . .

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="4"]Somali pirates release German, Japanese ships: maritime group[/SIZE]

Somali pirates have released a German-operated ship and a Japanese tanker seized last month, a Kenyan maritime organisation said Thursday.

The German's Antigua and Barbuda-flagged MV BBC Trinidad and Japanese MT Irene were seized on August 21 off the unpatrolled Somali coast, said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan branch of the Seafarers' Assistance Programme.

. . . "We have got information that 1.1 million dollars was paid for the release of the German ship," said Mwangura, adding that the freighter is headed to Muscat.

Mwangura said the MT Irene, which had 16 Filipinos and three Croatians, was freed from the same village a day after a group of Japanese arrived in Nairobi to boost efforts to release the tanker.

"We have reports that they brought ransom and were coordinating its payment," he added.

Sources close to the pirates in the northern Somali breakaway state of Puntland told AFP that a ransom of 1.5 million dollars was paid for the Japanese vessel but the information could not immediately be confirmed.

According to Somali officials and several maritime organisations, Somali pirates are currently holding several foreign ships hostage off the coast of the troubled Horn of Africa country.

Maritime experts say many attacks go unreported along Somalia's 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) of largely unpatrolled coastline infested by pirates, who operate high-powered speedboats and carry heavy machine guns and rocket launchers.

In June, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorising foreign warships to enter Somalia's territorial waters with the government's consent to combat pirates and armed robbery at sea, but it is yet to be implemented.

In recent months, a multinational taskforce based in Djibouti has been patrolling parts of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, where a pirate mothership is believed to be operating.

Some pirates have justified their actions by claiming that, in the absence of a functional central authority in Somalia, they were battling illegal fishing and toxic waste dumping by foreign countries. . . more

Irene ("eye-rean") is not a good name for a Japanese ship.

If it has a balance problem, a more appropriate name should surely be I-rist ("eye-rist").

Although, perhaps that name's already been reserved by the J-owners of the "Cougar Ace".

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="5"]NATO to send warships to combat piracy off Somalia[/SIZE]

The NATO military alliance has agreed to send warships to help combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.

NATO defence ministers meeting in Hungary agreed to dispatch a joint task force by the end of the year.

NATO officials say the force will also escort World Food Program ships delivering aid to Somalia.

Warships from several countries are already patrolling the waters off Somalia, where dozens of ships have been attacked by pirates in recent months.

[Cyka UchuuJin]

ok, i confess. tokyo this week did my head in and i'm getting my frustrations out by calling in a few favours to a few very dark skinned jack sparrows.

i'll be home on tuesday, i'll be expecting my ransom demands met by the time i land.

[kurohinge1]

ok, i confess. tokyo this week did my head in and i'm getting my frustrations out by calling in a few favours to a few very dark skinned jack sparrows.

i'll be home on tuesday, i'll be expecting my ransom demands met by the time i land.

Um, the thing is, that the rare, 1984, J-released ABBA album you requested (ABBA vs. Arabesque) is proving quite tricky to get (Greiji won't part with his copy ), so we'd like a bit more time. Puzhalsta.

[Greji]

[quote="kurohinge1"](Greiji won't part with his copy )
]

Wanted to help, but a goat ate the damn thing when I wasn't looking....

[Cyka UchuuJin]

[quote="kurohinge1"]Um, the thing is, that the rare, 1984, J-released ABBA album you requested (ABBA vs. Arabesque) is proving quite tricky to get (Greiji won't part with his copy ), so we'd like a bit more time. Puzhalsta.

]

this is NOT what i wanted to hear. i'm in dubai (yay, it seems they took FG off the forbidden list!) and boarding for nairobi in 3 hours. i expect that album, along with the other demands.

or greji's goat is the first to walk the plank.

[Greji]

or greji's goat is the first to walk the plank.

Hey! I don't care how tough you are, you messes wid me goat and ya gets a tramp steamer to Moqdisho with a crew from Pyongyang!

[Buraku]

http://africa.reuters.com

A Japanese cargo ship was seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia late on Saturday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted Seoul's foreign ministry as saying on Sunday.

The cargo ship was carrying 23 sailors, including five South Koreans, Yonhap said.

Details on the pirates and the safety of the sailors were not immediately available, it said.

Heavily armed Somali gunmen have seized more than 30 vessels so far this year, making the busy shipping lanes through the Gulf of Aden the most dangerous in the world.

South Korea is considering dispatching a naval ship to the area to protect its vessels and sailors

Once again the the kisha press club system refuses to cover this story until the J-gov gives them permission?

[Taro Toporific]

http://africa.reuters.com

Once again the the kisha press club system refuses to cover this story until the J-gov gives them permission?

Nah, Kyodo briefly reported it by saying, "no Japanese on board."

.
.


It was rather weird that all the press reports that first came out in the first couple of hours were from the South Korean foreign ministry.
[INDENT]
Somali Pirates Free Ship, Seize Another
By VOA News
16 November 2008
Somali pirates have hijacked a chemical tanker with 23 crew members on board, soon after releasing another ship for which they received a ransom.
The South Korean foreign ministry says pirates seized the Chemstar Venus and its crew of five South Koreans and 18 Filipinos off the coast of Somalia late Saturday. The ship is owned by a Japanese company. There has been no word on the condition of the crew.
The hijacking came shortly after pirates freed another Japanese-owned chemical tanker, the Stolt Valor, on Saturday. Indian officials say all crew members aboard that ship are safe, including 18 Indians, two Filipinos, a Bangladeshi and a Russian.
Officials say a ransom was paid to the pirates, who seized the ship in September.....[/INDENT]

[Charles]

There was a rather good report in The Register about the British Navy fighting piracy. Since they're mostly a tech website, they call it "Retro Piracy" to distinguish it from electronic piracy.

Retro piracy - Should the Royal Navy kick arse?
Tackling the freebooters of the 'Gate of Tears'

[Greji]

[INDENT]
Somali Pirates Free Ship, Seize Another...Somali pirates have hijacked a chemical tanker with 23 crew members on board, soon after releasing another ship for which they received a ransom.

This generally goes to show what the J-policy of accommodation and coughing up ransoms at will, accomplish, absolutely nothing accept more kidnaping and hijacks.

I've had J-people tell me that the US policy of refusing to negotiate with terrorists/political kidnappers is completely stupid.

Well, this is what you get. More hijacks and kidnaping, 'cause the bad guys know they're going to get paid.

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="4"]Hijacked crew in failed escape attempt[/SIZE]

Crew members on an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo ship held by Somali pirates attempted to overpower two of their captors, prompting the hijackers to threaten to punish the men on Tuesday.

Speaking from the MV Faina cargo ship [carrying 33 battle tanks and other weaponry . . . headed to the Kenyan port of Mombasa] . . . a spokesman for the pirates said the incident took place late on Monday.

"Some crew members on the Ukrainian ship are misbehaving. They tried to harm two of our gunmen late Monday," said the pirate, who declined to give his name.

"This is unacceptable. They risk serious punitive measures" the spokesman added. . . more

The misbehaving Ukrainians were reportedly sent to their cabins without supper and if they don't smarten up tomorrow, they will have their colouring pencils taken away. ]http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2260&stc=1&d=1162521168[/IMG]

[kurohinge1]

[SIZE="4"]Aussie warship may battle pirates off Somalia[/SIZE]

An Australian warship may be set to join an anti-pirate task force operating in the seas off Somalia.

The plan, being considered by the Australian Defence Force, follows an upsurge in pirate activity in which Somali pirates have seized cargo ships and demanded millions of dollars in ransoms for their release.

The US has expressed a strong desire for Australian involvement in a new multinational counter-piracy task force, which was formed on January 1.

Defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said on Wednesday that taking on the pirates was a possible role for an Australian warship since the country had ended its long-running mission guarding Iraq's offshore oil terminals at the top of the Persian Gulf.

The Australian warship would serve in what's called Task Force 151, alongside US, British and other nations' warships . . . more

Behold! The ADF's latest tried & tested weapon in the battle for peace -the beer gun:

[kurohinge1]

Pirates' loot now in Davey Jones' Locker - Kurohinge1 taking diving lessons.

[SIZE="4"]Pirates go down with their loot after supertanker freed[/SIZE]

MOGADISHU: FIVE of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a reported $US3 million ($4.2 million ) ransom after their small boat capsized, a pirate and port town resident said yesterday.

Pirate Daud Nure said the boat with eight people on board overturned in a storm after dozens of pirates left the Sirius Star following a two-month stand-off in the Gulf of Aden that ended on Friday.

He said five people died and three people reached shore after swimming for several hours.

Nure was not part of the pirate operation but said he knew those involved.

Jamal Abdulle, a resident of the Somali coastal town of Haradhere, close to where the ship was anchored, also confirmed that the boat sank and that the eight men's portion of the ransom money that had been shared between dozens of pirates was lost.

US Navy photos showed a parachute, carrying what the navy described as "an apparent payment", floating toward the tanker. The Sirius Star and its 25-member crew had been held since November 15.

. . . More than a dozen ships with about 300 crew are being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia, including the weapons-laden Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina . . . more

[kurohinge1]

The beer gun image disappeared & we can no longer edit old posts, so I've loaded it again . . . for posterity's sake:

Behold! The ADF's latest tried & tested weapon in the battle for peace -the beer gun:

Too late for the Somali 5.

[Buraku]

Coast guard to help MSDF ships handle pirate arrests off Somalia
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20090111a5.html

Kyodo News

Japan Coast Guard personnel with authority to make arrests will man Maritime Self-Defense Force ships during antipiracy activities off the coast of Somalia, government officials said Saturday.

The unusual cross-service arrangement is being made because Self-Defense Forces officials are not authorized to make arrests.

When JCG officials arrest pirates, they will be handed over to the countries concerned or prosecuted in Japan.

The government has been studying ways of sending MSDF ships to Somalia to aid international efforts against piracy, but there is no established legal framework for the missions.

One stopgap measure being studied is to dispatch MSDF ships under a maritime policing provision in the SDF Law. If that happens, it is assumed the JCG will have to hold any pirates caught killing, injuring or plundering aboard Japanese ships.

But that is considered unlikely because the government is assuming pirates won't attack ships in areas being policed by the MSDF.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has voiced reservations about sending MSDF ships to Somalia under the maritime policing provision, but expressed hope that new SDF dispatch legislation will be enacted to realize a dispatch.

The team covering the issue for the ruling parties held its first meeting Friday to begin drafting a bill for an MSDF dispatch. The team is expected to finish the legislation by mid-March for submission to the Diet, which will run through early June.

strangest looking gun I've seen in a long while

probably going to backfire into the fuckers face

[Behan]

There's no barrel, or inner barrel in which the bullet would travel down, is there? It kind of looks bent, too.

[kurohinge1]

strangest looking gun I've seen in a long while . . .

It's an MG3 without the barrel.

Maybe he should check the box and instructions again - sometimes those bits that're left over (and there's always a few) are important.

[kurohinge1]

In a tense round of matches in the Horn of Africa league, here are the latest results:

Match 1

Somali Pirates: 1
France: 2

(RIP Florent Lemacon )


Match 2

Somali Pirates: 0
United States: 3

(Kudos to what sounds like the co-ordination of at least 3 simultaneous sniper-shots from a destroyer, at targets in a liferaft!)

Commentators warn that the Somali Pirates are likely to become more spiteful and less predictable as we approach the final rounds.

[Greji]

Commentators warn that the Somali Pirates are likely to become more spiteful and less predictable as we approach the final rounds.

If the fucking whiny ass commentators are so worried about, put them on the fucking boats..

[kurohinge1]

If the fucking whiny ass commentators are so worried about, put them on the fucking boats..

I think you missed the boat on that post, G-man. The commentators are not being "whiny assed". They're just commentating. That's why they call them commentators. ]US captain's rescue raises stakes in piracy ops[/align]

. . . Experts indicated that piracy in the Indian Ocean off Somalia, which transformed one of the world's busiest shipping lanes into one of its most dangerous, has entered a new phase with the Navy SEAL rescue operation of Phillips.

It "could escalate violence in this part of the world, no question about it," said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

The International Maritime Bureau said Monday it supported the action by the U.S. and French navies, but cautioned it may spark retaliatory moves by pirates.

"We applaud the U.S. and the French action. We feel that they are making the right move, although the results sometimes may be detrimental," said Noel Choong of the IMB's piracy center in Kuala Lumpur.

He did not elaborate, but for families of the 228 foreign nationals aboard 13 ships still held by pirates, the fear is revenge on their loved ones.

. . . So far, Somali pirates have never harmed captive foreign crews except for a Taiwanese crew member who was killed under unclear circumstances. In fact, many former hostages say they were treated well and given sumptuous food.

The pirates had operated with near-impunity in the Gulf of Aden north of Somalia, and more recently in waters south of the country after a multinational naval force began patrolling the Gulf.

Choong said there have been 74 attacks this year with 15 hijackings as compared to 111 attacks for all of last year . . . more

US Rescue Sparks 'Pirate Guerilla Warfare'

The US Navy's dramatic rescue of an American sea captain has ushered in a new era of "guerilla warfare" on the open seas, a piracy expert has told Sky News Online.

. . . Now Somali pirate chief Abdi Garad has vowed to hunt down all Americans sailing in the Gulf of Aden in revenge for the "murders".

"The American liars have killed our friends after they agreed to free the hostage without ransom," he told Al Jazeera by phone from Eyl, a pirate base on Somalia's eastern coast.

"But I tell you that this matter will lead to retaliation and we will hunt down particularly American citizens travelling our waters."

Experts point out that so far Somali pirates have not killed a single captive - but this may now change and lead them to use more brutal tactics in the pursuit of ransom money.

. . . It has also raised fears for the 230 foreign sailors still held hostage in more than a dozen ships anchored off the coast of Somalia.

"This has now changed everything, what we are now dealing with is maritime guerilla warfare," maritime security expert Nick Davis told Sky News Online.

"Your average Caucasian white guy does not want to be operating in the Indian Ocean - because his card is now marked.

. . . "This will send absolute shockwaves through the merchant shipping industry."

He said when markets reopen tomorrow, shipping companies will be looking to mitigate the risks of travelling through areas known for pirate attacks.

And this might include deregistering from US shipping operators, and sailing under the flag of countries like Panama, the Philippines, or Greece.

But he said that this process is highly bureaucratic and can takes months.

. . . We remain resolved to halt the rise of piracy in this region. To achieve that goal, we must continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks.

. . . But Mr Davis said despite the rhetoric, in reality there is "absolutely nothing" the US military can do.

"There are no amount of warships in the world that can solve this problem," he stressed.

He points out that the pirates have satellite phones, keep in close contact with each other, and operate in six million square kilometres of ocean.

They also use speedboats capable of travelling at 35mph, compared to the average merchant ship's speed of 10-15mph, and carry enough fuel to operate for 12 hours.

Many also have a mother ship for refuelling - meaning they can operate in deep water for three or four days at a time.

. . . more