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Oil Tanker Boarded By Pirates Off Basra
The Telegraph (UK) ^
| 6-17-2005
| Oliver Poole
Posted on 06/16/2005 6:27:17 PM PDT by blam
Oil tanker boarded by pirates off Basra
By Oliver Poole in Baghdad
(Filed: 17/06/2005)
Pirates clutching knives and AK47s boarded a supertanker moored off Basra in the latest of a series of seaborne robberies in the Persian Gulf.
In recent weeks there have been a number of audacious attacks on ships waiting to load at the city's overstretched terminals, raising concerns about the safety of oil exports and adding piracy to the area's list of security threats.
In the most recent incident, three men boarded the tanker in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The alert was sounded after watchmen saw the men on the foredeck and they fled in an inflatable speedboat.
Two weeks earlier another supertanker was attacked by a group of men with AK47s as it waited to load crude oil. The pirates posed as police officers to get on board then attacked the ship's captain and stole $50,000. They tried to storm the bridge, but fled when a coalition vessel pulled alongside.
The two offshore terminals at Basra remain Iraq's only reliable export outlets for oil.
Sabotage and power shortages have already cut exports from the south to 1.47 million barrels a day rather than the hoped-for 1.75 million.
The Royal Navy has called for vigilance by captains and, with support from the US Fifth Fleet, will conduct more visible anti-piracy patrols.
TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: basra; boarded; iraq; off; oil; persiangulf; pirates; royalnavy; tanker
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Merchant ships carry large amounts of cash.
1
posted on
06/16/2005 6:27:18 PM PDT
by
blam
To: blam
2
posted on
06/16/2005 6:30:03 PM PDT
by
spetznaz
(Nuclear tipped ICBMs: The Ultimate Phallic Symbol.)
To: blam
blam wrote:
Merchant ships carry large amounts of cash.
--HappyMoney! For when they reach shore AAARGH MATEY!!
3
posted on
06/16/2005 6:31:35 PM PDT
by
1FASTGLOCK45
(FreeRepublic: More fun than watching Dem'Rats drown like Turkeys in the rain! ! !)
To: LongElegantLegs; Grannyx4
Pirate ping!
To: 1FASTGLOCK45
I hope the go back to dealing with pirates the old fashioned way.... No rehab and lots of swinging from a rope.
5
posted on
06/16/2005 6:35:23 PM PDT
by
Dutch Boy
To: blam
Piracys very common...in the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen, in southeast Asia, Indonesia.
6
posted on
06/16/2005 6:36:34 PM PDT
by
Guillermo
(42% of suicide bombers in Iraq are Saudi and Bush continues to lick their boots)
To: Dutch Boy
Swinging from a rope... Being towed behind a speedboat by the neck.
7
posted on
06/16/2005 6:38:31 PM PDT
by
1FASTGLOCK45
(FreeRepublic: More fun than watching Dem'Rats drown like Turkeys in the rain! ! !)
To: 1FASTGLOCK45
"--HappyMoney! For when they reach shore AAARGH MATEY!!" Congress has dictated that American seamen are always, always, paid in US currency. Cash only, no checks, chits or etc.
8
posted on
06/16/2005 6:44:23 PM PDT
by
blam
To: blam
That's how I should get paid too. I hate going to the bank.
9
posted on
06/16/2005 6:46:22 PM PDT
by
1FASTGLOCK45
(FreeRepublic: More fun than watching Dem'Rats drown like Turkeys in the rain! ! !)
To: blam
Yarrrrr!
They be looting loads o' swag, I imagine.
To: blam
YARRR!!!
11
posted on
06/16/2005 6:47:12 PM PDT
by
SIDENET
("You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.")
To: blam
They need to allow them to have .50 machineguns and 20mm chainguns on-board. That might reduce threats on the high seas.
To: 1FASTGLOCK45
It's also kind of embarrassing when you run out of fuel while carrying a couple million gallons of crude. Some fuel providers only accept cash. Just ask the pilots of those ten French aircraft that had to land at Atlantic City a few weeks ago.
13
posted on
06/16/2005 6:53:21 PM PDT
by
Stonewall Jackson
(Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. - John Adams)
To: thebaron512
They need to allow them to have .50 machineguns and 20mm chainguns on-board. That might reduce threats on the high seas.Sounds good until you consider you are talking about a gigantic floating oil or LPG canister. One spark in the wrong place and the whole world go boom!
14
posted on
06/16/2005 6:57:40 PM PDT
by
Mind-numbed Robot
(Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government.)
To: Stonewall Jackson
SOunds interesting, what happened to the Frenchies? Have a link?
15
posted on
06/16/2005 7:01:02 PM PDT
by
1FASTGLOCK45
(FreeRepublic: More fun than watching Dem'Rats drown like Turkeys in the rain! ! !)
To: SIDENET
"ARRRR!"
16
posted on
06/16/2005 7:07:53 PM PDT
by
reagan_fanatic
(The theory of evolution is the great cosmogenic myth of the twentieth century - Michael Denton)
To: blam
Alright ye men.... Load all yer oil into these here baggies.
To: Sarcastic1
Thanks for the ping! YAR!
To: 1FASTGLOCK45
Apparently they were stuck there for a day until someone arrived from the French consulate in New York to pay for the fuel.
Here's a link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1415634/posts
19
posted on
06/16/2005 7:27:31 PM PDT
by
Stonewall Jackson
(Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. - John Adams)
To: blam
Maybe we should set them up the bomb!?
20
posted on
06/16/2005 7:30:23 PM PDT
by
stboz
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