'Al Capone' Strategy To Defeat Piracy -- The Telegraph
The US has proposed an 'Al Capone' strategy of targeting 12 'kingpins' who control Somalian piracy, in an ambitious new drive to crush the threat within two years, a senior official has said.
Thomas Kelly, the US State Department official in charge of counter-piracy policy, told The Daily Telegraph a small group of very wealthy men were instrumental in the growth and spread of Somalian piracy. Mr Kelly's campaign to prosecute the men under corruption and money laundering laws could be the coup de grace against pirates that at one point represented the gravest threat to world trade in decades. "That's how we got Al Capone, he went to jail because of tax fraud. One of the main areas of multilateral work and in places like Interpol is to try to focus on the kingpins," he said. "Just incarcerating young Somali men who are the foot soldiers isn't going to eradicate the problem by itself." With global backing, all of the men could be facing the courts with the next "couple of years", he added.
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More News On Somali Piracy
World sea piracy falls to lowest level since 2008 -- AP
Report: Sea piracy drops to lowest level in four years -- CNN
Somali pirates hijacking fewer merchant ships -- The Guardian
Somalian pirates beat a retreat from merchant ships -- The Hindu
Ships With Armed Guards Seen Not Reporting Somali Pirate Strikes -- Bloomberg
Elite Indian commandos to guard merchant vessels -- Khabar
Where have Somalia's pirates gone? -- David Blair, The Telegraph