Yo Ho Ho: Spain Pays Somali Pirates $1.2 Million to Release Ship and Crew

It is now becoming clear why the Spanish have been able to secure the release of their vessels and citizens faster than other countries: they allegedly cave and pay the demanded ransom. Perhaps, the Euro’s rise is making this a small cost of doing business, but one can now see why Somali pirating is the rage.

The Playa de Bakio, a tune boat, was seized by Somali pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades last Sunday. Abdi Khalif Ahmed, chairman of the Haradhere local port authority in central Somalia, declared the happy ending (except for the next ship): “The ship is free and the pirates disappeared into their villages.”

If true, it is an amazing betrayal of an international principle against such ransoms.

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