One-eyed captain, D'Artagnan-style hat, skull flag fluttering in the sea breeze, and countless large wooden boxes filled with gold, silver and treasures... Through the movie, pirates freeze in people's minds with a legendary and romantic image. However, pirates in reality take risks and risk their lives to hijack passing ships in exchange for ransom.
So when it comes to pirates in reality, everyone's first reaction must be Somali pirates . Since 2008, Somali pirates have become a hot topic of widespread attention in the international community, but do you know that they not only hijacked past merchant ships, but also , warships , they rushed up desperately. Was they too stupid or admit their mistakes?
is so bold that he dares to rob a warship
Let’s take a look at which warships the Somali pirates have robbed and what the final result is.
On October 7, 2009, French naval supply ship "Lasom" was on duty in the Red Sea, but was targeted by Somali pirates. The pirates were still the same rule. Two small boats operated in groups. They quickly approached the "Lasom" under the cover of night, but when they arrived in front of the "Lasom", they were stunned by the scene in front of . The ship was equipped with 40 cm diameter anti-aircraft guns and missiles.
pirates found that something was wrong and immediately wanted to turn the bow of the ship to escape. How could the "Lasom" give up and immediately chased after him. After chased after one hour, he caught a small boat. Five pirates immediately raised their hands and surrendered. Another small boat in took the opportunity to escape. After receiving the notice, ships of several nearby countries also chased the escape boat one after another.
So after these pirates were arrested, began to stage a "sad drama" that refused to admit. said that they were just nearby fishermen and asked warships for help because they got lost. I am afraid that only they themselves would believe this kind of nonsense.
However, according to the international regulations at that time, the court to judge them was the court of Kenya , and Although the pirates attacked French warships and the ones who captured them were also French warships, France did not have the qualifications to judge them.
One morning in January 2012, the Spanish naval supply ship "Patinio" was escorting a United Nations humanitarian rescue food transport ship for rescue at Somalia . Just as it was about to arrive in Mogadishu in Somalia, a small boat suddenly appeared and rushed towards the warship quickly. The warship's radar did not find the boat at that time, but a sentry on the warship discovered them and immediately issued an alarm.
The seven pirates on this boat, holding AK-47, began to fire at the Spanish warships and prepare to board the ship. However, they did not expect that is a real warship, carrying two cannons and 2 cannons , and can also carry several helicopters. There are about 200 Marines on the ship.
pirates wanted to hijack warships with a few AKs. was like using a pencil-sharpening knife to rob the fully armed special police patrol car. At the beginning, the warship did not intend to give the pirates a little color, but symbolically used some light weapon to fight back, but the pirates actually became more and more excited, and seemed to have forgotten that the warship was in front of them.
So Spain had to increase its firepower and counterattack. Under this huge firepower gap, the pirates saw that they were finished, so they quickly escaped and ran away after fighting? But it was not so easy. Spain dispatched a helicopter to catch up. One of the pirates in was directly shot by the helicopter, and the other six pirates were injured to varying degrees and finally surrendered.
The difference between the last time pirates robbed French warships is that since 2011, Kenya has been unwilling to take over the trial of Somali pirates. They are only willing to accept pirate hijacking cases that occur in their own waters.
This means that the case was tried by Spain itself, and made Spain very happy. sentenced them to more than ten years in prison with the backhand, and later they each added another 5 years.
Then even the Somali pirates were robbed of American warships. In 2010, Somali pirates launched firepower attacks on a US warship. In the end, these pirates and their nests were all passed by the United States. The US court sentenced them to life imprisonment, which was also the first batch of pirate suspects tried in the United States in a century.
But there is one country that is an exception. Somali pirates will walk around as soon as they see the ships of the country. This country is Russia. has always been ruthless in dealing with pirates. In 2010, Somali pirates unfortunately encountered Russian warships at sea. Russian warships directly aimed at the pirate ship and bombarded wildly. In a few seconds, the pirate ship was directly beaten into a sieve.
The British " Guardian " also commented on this: "Russia never shows mercy in the face of pirates' invasion, and it has the characteristics of a fighting nation when attacking. Once pirates dare to invade Russian ships, the Russian escort soldiers are unpolite. Even if the pirates surrender, they will not do it. They will kill them all."
Behind the "desperate"
So when the pirates robbed warships, did the pirates mistakenly mistake the warships for cargo ships, or did they want to take risks for the ransom? Perhaps both are possible.
A friend may ask: Is money really more important than life? may be true for Somali pirates. If they did not die in the firefight, but went to another country to jail, it might be a good destination for them, at least they would have no worries about food and clothing in prison.
Pirate problem, is a microcosm of the political chaos in Somalia over the past 20 years, and it is also a direct consequence of Somalia's years of civil war and people's livelihood.
Somali is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. What is presented to the world is the tragic world of rampant pirates, warlord separatism, social turmoil, and frequent terrorist activities. Many people do not know whether they can still live tomorrow.
As the civil war gradually intensified, the people who could not survive may join the warlords in groups and act as cannon fodder; may go out to sea to become pirates to commit suicide. Then when pirates often become the "first choice" of many Somalia's poor people because of their high profits. Therefore, Somalia's 2,880-kilometer coastline has become a pirate paradise because no one cares about it.
Their equipment is very simple, some guns and a few ships are enough, and with these, you can act. When robbing the ship, they also had their own combat plan. They first shot the hull to deter it, and then surrounded and boarded the ship. After occupying the ship, they kidnapped the crew and hostages, and then demanded ransom.
So Somali pirates usually do not kill people, because this will greatly reduce their ransom. In addition to not killing people, also has the requirement that women are not allowed to be raped, otherwise they will be deemed to be shot dead in violation of the regulations.
As long as you can successfully rob even a ship and ask for a ransom, these pirates in can "reborn" and transform into rich people, and buy houses and land to marry a wife.
There is a pirate named Moussa, who is one of the pirates sentenced to life imprisonment in in the United States mentioned above. In an interview with the media, his mother told reporters that she was only 40 years old but had given birth to 12 children. Her son joined the pirates just to make money so that the whole family could have a meal.
There are countless families like Mousa in Somalia, and Mousa's family is a microcosm of countless families in Somalia's extreme poverty.
is written at the end
As a reporter said: "Somali pirates have become a profitable industry that has attracted locals. Then the ill-gotten gained in this industry has also funded the civil war, deepened the root cause of poverty and turmoil, which breeds illegal activities, and this is a bad vicious cycle."
When poverty and war become passes for pirates' crimes, where should Somalia go?
References:
Pan Jie. Somali Pirates: They are usually for the people, but when they are poor, they are thieves. [J] Fangyuan, 2013(21).
Gao Rongwei. Why did the "Somali Pirates" suppress but not destroyed? [J] Procuratorial Storm.2022(04).
Author: Qiao Mu
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