Non-Subscriber Extract
Piracy - scourge of the seas
- Article Tools
| 05 May 2005 |
By Richard Scott JDW Naval Editor
London
Piracy covers a wide spectrum of seaborne crime. At the lower end are opportunistic attacks, which Captain Pottengal Mukandan, director of the International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau (IMB), characterises as "maritime muggings". At the other end of the spectrum is the hijacking and theft of a vessel and its cargo. "Such crimes are planned well in advance, with ships usually targeted for the high value and easy disposal of their cargo," says Capt Mukandan. "These pirates are capable of operating the vessel without the crew's assistance, and violence and intimidation of the crew are invariably a feature of such attacks."
Some have suggested a potential association between pirates and fundamentalist groups, which may be plotting acts of seaborne terrorism. In his address to the Gulf Defence Conference in Abu Dhabi in February, Commodore Allan Du Toit, director general, Navy Capability, Performance and Plans, Royal Australian Navy, noted that "piracy is on the increase in many areas around the world and this has the potential to be linked to terror groups".
Increasing violence
In its latest annual report 'Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships', the IMB identified a fall in the total number of worldwide attacks from 445 in 2003 to 325 in 2004. However, it noted that while numbers have dropped, violence "continues to rise and the number of crew killed increased to 30 from 21 in 2003".
According to the IMB, waters off Indonesia account for the highest number of attacks with 93 incidents recorded in 2004. This equates to more than one quarter of attacks reported worldwide.
Attacks in the Strait of Malacca ranked second highest with 37 reported incidents, followed by Nigeria with 28 attacks. Other areas showing an increase in reported attacks include the Strait of Singapore, the South China Sea and Haiti.
Other locations have seen a drop in the number of attacks. One example is Bangladesh, where the number of attacks has fallen from 58 in 2003 to just 17 in 2004. The IMB has praised the Bangladesh authorities, saying that the fall in attacks shows that when governments "are committed to tackling piracy and provide the necessary resources, the attacks would eventually reduce".
362 of 2,197 words