Pirates
With the world getting synonymous with the word piracy relating to the high-tech type (of software and such), the first kind—for which the word “pirate” was essentially known–seems to be going out of fashion. But those at sea have a different story to tell.
I was reading through the November issue of Time where I read that a vessel—full of tsunami relief matieral (like food grains, rice, etc)—was held for ransom by Sumali pirates. In waters that have no control, authority or jurisdiction or patrol, the threat is greater than ever.
In one of the projects, we had an unusual request by our client. They said they didn’t want boat landings on their satellite platforms. Boat landings are essentially landing areas attached to the offshore oil and gas installations that act as an access to the platform. In any given field, there are numerous un-manned platforms. Boat landings are standard accessories and also a standard safety route. Except that in this case, it posed a greater threat. When questioned, we got a one word answer: “pirates”.
While the straits of Malacca and Batam island are notorious for sophisticated pirates, the rest of the world’s shady areas are fast catching-up.
More stories from: BBC, DailyKos, BBC again, Somalilandtimes, Sunday Herald, World Net Daily and All Africa.