Pirates hijacked a cargo ship delivering UN food aid to north-eastern Somalia yesterday, according to officials...
The pirates use speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and grenades, according to the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia.
As I wrote in "A Pirate's Life for Me!" (GUNS & AMMO, April 2002):
Aye, pirates there still be. But the blackest tale o' treachery on the Seven Seas comes not from cutthroats. It comes from anti-defense globalists, that is, the people reporting the increase and chartered to do something about it-- the scurvy knaves at the IMO and the privateers who follow in their wake.
Crossed anchors over a UN logo on the IMO ensign evoke nothing so much as a Jolly Roger, and despite their objective of "improving maritime safety," the world agency could be considered a buccaneer's best friend. Not only are they powerless to help victims of piracy in progress, but they actively oppose the only proven deterrent, armed defense.