"It's really more of a set of guidelines..."
Posted on 04/17/2008 1:24:02 PM PDT by george76
Six Somali men involved in capturing a French yacht and holding its 30 crew hostage have said they were part of a maritime militia group with a written code of conduct...
The men were captured in the Somali desert by French troops on Friday after holding the yacht and its crew off Somalia for a week and fleeing with part of the ransom, which was recovered. They were flown to France this week to face trial.
The yacht's captain told investigators the ransom paid was $2 million (1 million pounds). But the half-dozen men are just part of a larger group of pirates that carried out the hostage-taking and they only had about $200,000, or 10 percent of that amount, on them.
"The chance of identifying them (the others) is relatively small," ...
The men said their militia group was based in the village of Garaad-Ade in the northern province of Puntland, and police found their manual of good conduct on board the luxury yacht.
Piracy is lucrative in the waters off lawless Somalia's coast and most kidnappers treat their captives well in anticipation of a good ransom.
Weekly magazine Le Nouvel Observateur said some of the hostages may actually have been tourists on a cruise who were passed off as crew to avoid inflating the ransom, but the Defence Ministry avoided commenting on the article.
(Excerpt) Read more at swissinfo.org ...
Religion of peace
In the old days, the Navy would try pirates before a military tribunal, and, if convicted, would hang them. I wonder if the laws governing those procedures are still on the books?
manual of good conduct
Why oh why does this village still exist? It should be green glowing glass by now.
“Sea Militia”
Hmmmm. Sounds like they should be killed on the battle field. I also agree with post number 3.
“...militia group was based in the village of Garaad-Ade in the northern province of Puntland,...”
An air strike would change all of that.
How did that happen; did the tourist volunteer to be held hostage? If so, are they pirate mob bosses who volunteered knowing they wouldn't be harmed?
Hmmm. The Singh Brotherhood? Send for the Phantom...
"It's really more of a set of guidelines..."
How long until Jimmy Carter turns up at their Paris prison, flowers in hand?
And that's different from a pirate how? Gosh, the pirates of the Caribbean used to even have a crude form of health insurance.
There may be two different ransom rates : crew versus tourists ?
Some tourists may have pretended to be part of the crew.
Next time, they'll give the name of a village housing an opposing clan.
Somali pirate “Code of Conduct”!
Even if they hadn’t committed a high crime in International Waters - the %&^%$^* should be shot for being so damned infuriating and such insufferable bores.
ALL ships — approaching ANY ship in International waters after being warned off - should be fired up and attacked until sunk...
“Green Peace” ships included.
No attempt to rescue survivors — NOT required with “pirates”...
There should be green glowing glass by now.
cia factbook info.
MOHAMED ABDID, Somali muslim candidate for election KENYA.link.
Obama supported Mohamed Abdid, a Somali muslim/arab in his bid for election in Kenya.
Thanks george76.
Big deal, the 17th-century Buccaneers had a code of conduct, too, and they were still pirates by any definition of the term.
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