Profiles in Insurgency: Piracy, An Old Profession

by Mark Monday and Gary Stubblefield

Piracy--including boardings, attempted boardings, hijackings, detentions and robberies at port or anchorage--remains a hidden but very real problem in many areas of the world. Estimates of the cost of piracy and maritime fraud range as high as 16 billion a year. Pirate attacks on ships rose dramatically in 1996, soaring to a record 224 incidents worldwide. Despite the high number recorded, it appears that the actual count is even higher as ship masters have discouraged seamen from reporting pirate attacks, apparently because of the delays that the vessel may encounter as reporting formalities are completed.

Modern-day pirates using small fast craft have become more prevalent, bolder in their actions, and use heavier weapons now than they did a decade ago. They are no longer just using small arms and knives and indulging in petty thefts. In some of the latest documented attacks they used machine guns and grenades in hijacking vessels with their cargo. The pirates are sometimes grouping their resources and are being aided by powerful syndicates. The syndicate will seize a ship, fraudulently re-flag it and sell it off to an unsuspecting buyer.

Problems continue to be particularly significant in Southeast Asian waters and off the Atlantic coast of South America and the Caribbean.

Today there are three common piracy scenarios. In the simplest version the pirates simply rob the crew and then depart--often when the victim vessel is at anchor. In the second type of piracy the thieves go after the cargo. In the third type the pirates take over the vessel, re-flag it, and then run a "phantom ship" which hijacks the cargo of anyone foolish enough to consign goods to it. (The phantom ship trick, which is outside the scope of this report, involves sophisticated gangs who are able to steal at least $200 million a year worth of cargo. Many of the ships are then flagged in Honduras and Panama and take cargo that is easily disposed of but not easily traced, such as timber, metals and minerals. The real importance of the third type lies in the sophistication of some maritime thieves. It means ship owners and masters have to be prepared to deal with people who are capable of thinking, as well as sheer thuggery.)

Of interest in regard to the phantom ships problem is the case of the Jahan. In January 1997 a ship with 28 crew members reported sunk in the south Atlantic in unexplained circumstances turned up in Ghana where it was impounded and the crew arrested.

Days earlier, off South Africa, the ship had radioed it was sinking. It was not clear at the time what could have caused the sinking of the 15,022-ton Jahan, built in 1972, registered in Belize and operated by Seatimes Shipping of Singapore. Weather in the region, midway between the South African coast and the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, was reported to be fine at the time.

According to radio messages all 28 crew members abandoned ship after the vessel began taking on water and were presumed to be in lifeboats. After 11 days the rescue teams failed to locate the ship and called off the search. They could not find it because it was not sinking and was in a completely different location to what the captain claimed.

Then it was discovered that the vessel had been renamed M/V Zacosea Two and had diverted its original voyage plan and was in Ghanaian waters, heading toward Tema harbor. The ship had a Ghanaian captain and a Burmese, Indian and Bangladeshi crew had been arrested following investigations.

A spokesman for the vessel operators said Jahan was on charter to a London company and carrying a cargo of 14,000 tons of sugar.

All three types of piracy are of concern. But two types of piracy-- where the cargo and/or ship is the target and the pirates come from outside the vessel--are of greatest concern since the crew of the hijacked ship could be marooned or even thrown overboard by the sea raiders. In the case of the Anna Sierra--taken in the South China Sea--dozens of people were adrift for days in small boats. The Anna Sierra piracy case clearly points to the seriousness of the situation.

Overall, it is also important to note that boardings have increased worldwide and there is an accompanying, and disturbing, trend toward the use of firearms and violence once the vessel has been boarded.

``There is no doubt that attacks on vessels have become more audacious, more violent and an issue of serious concern to shipping and seamen,'' the Regional Piracy Center of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in its most recent annual report, covering 1996. That follows similar comments in the 1996 annual report, covering 1995, which said that "overall, there has been a considerable rise in the number and ferocity of attacks. Most worrying is the increase in the number of vessels fired upon and vessels hijacked, where there has been a prolonged threat with firearms to crew members."

According to new figures released by the IMB in April 1997, global piracy attacks rose to 224 in 1996 compared with 187 in 1995. Moreover, there is serious concern that the problem is being understated--and the actual attacks under-reported.

Under-reporting is particularly a problem in Asia, where attacks were grossly under-reported and details often slow to emerge. ``Shipping companies in Singapore and port workers in Chittagong provide hard evidence that piracy is grossly under-reported.'' ``The attitude that nothing will be done so there is no point in reporting is understandable,'' and it added it ``fully expects to receive details of more incidents in the coming months relating to the first three months of 1997.''

The IMB Regional Piracy Center said in its latest report, for the three months between January and March 31, 1997, that pirate attacks fell to 34 from 62 in the same period of 1996 but those are subject to updating with late reports.

Modern pirates, as in the past, come in two types--the criminal variety or the semiofficial military variety. Both types need to be reckoned with in many areas of the world.

While some experts insist that "piracy moves around," the statement is misleading. Pirate plagued areas are pirate plagued areas; pirates are simply more or less active in the area at any given time. The areas simply shift around on a "top five" chart. While one area may lead in a given year, and another may hold first place in the ratings the following year, the same areas and regions will be found on the chart, year after year. Only their relative position on the chart will change. The South China Sea and adjacent waters, as well as the Indonesian waters, have been some of the most active areas for pirates during the last five years.

In 1996 Indonesia and Brazil were the worst hit, the Regional Piracy Center of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said in its 1997 annual report. ``The attacks in Brazil and many of the attacks in Indonesia have involved armed pirates and varying degrees of violence have been used,'' according to the report.

The overall rise in incidents during 1996 came despite a drop in reported cases from ports in China, Hong Kong and Macau, where piracy had been a growing problem over the previous few years.

For 1996, the report showed that incidents where ships were boarded increased to 124 in 1996, from 110 in 1995. Hijackings in 1996 declined to five cases from 11, and the number of cases where vessels were fired upon fell to six from nine. For comparison, in raw numbers, the number of vessels boarded by pirates worldwide in 1994 was 51. Hijackings, which saw a surge in 1995, stood at five the previous year. There were no reports of gun attacks in 1994. Robberies in port doubled to 10 in 1995 from five.

Pirate attacks on ships rose by five to a record 175 incidents worldwide last year. In all, there were 170 attacks on vessels in 1995 against 92 the year before. The victims of choice were reportedly bulk carriers, general cargo ships and tankers.

In Far Eastern waters, Indonesia saw the highest percentage increase in attacks during 1996. They rose to 34, up from 25 the year before. According to the IMB report the attacks in Indonesian waters followed a similar pattern. "In the vast majority of these attacks, the vessels were boarded in port and had equipment and possessions stolen," the report said. Traditionally most pirate attacks in these waters are against vessels anchored off a port.

The China-Hong Kong-Macau region was second on the hot spots list in 1995, although it lost the position to Brazil in 1996. The region's 28 incidents in 1995 was up from five in 1994. Thailand, where no pirate attacks were recorded in 1995, scored 10 of them in the first half of 1996. They were relatively mild attacks, however, and were often classed as attempted boardings or theft of cargo.

Piracy by Region

Southeast Asia-Chinese waters

The Hong Kong-Luzon-Hainan triangle, which has traditionally been a favorite hunting ground for pirates, remains "area of concern," although the actual number of attacks has been down there over previous years.

Piracy in Philippine waters has the probability of being exceptionally violent. Although the total number of pirate attacks in Philippine waters has retreate in one of the, 1996 attacks four pirates shot and killed nine fishermen and stole their boat. A sole survivor escaped and reported the incident to police. And in another 1996 incident pirates who got aboard a ferry as passengers killed at least five people in their takeover of the craft.

Piracy in the area between Malaysian and Philippine waters is growing. In the southern Philippines, where an ethnic war continues to rage despite the soothing words to the contrary from the government, pirates/armed terrorists have been attacking vessels in harbor and at sea in 1997. Sometimes they board the craft and occasionally they shoot up the vessels. Some of the piracy around Chinese waters has a quasi-official quality. There is an appearance of official connivance. The suspicions of official complicity have been so widespread and persistent that two years ago China was forced to formally deny reports that its official agencies carried out pirate attacks!

Beijing told a United Nations maritime safety official it rejected allegations that "the normal execution of law enforcement duties by competent Chinese authorities constitutes any form of unlawful act." It said its patrol boats were often simply trying to crack smuggling cases when they approached other vessels. However China has also acknowledged that some pirates may have copied the uniforms of its navy and mimicked the colorings of official vessels.

In August 1994 China ordered stern punishment against those who "pretend to be naval vessels and commit piracy at sea," the official People's Daily said. However in 1995 and 1996 the pattern continued and Chinese vessels still intercept ships on the high seas and "escort" them to port as probable smugglers--after which the cargo is removed.

In 1996 things gotten even hotter. There were clashes between Philippine Navy gunboats and suspected Chinese pirate ships in waters near the Subic Free Port, 50 miles northwest of Manila. On January 22 Philippine naval craft clashed with a suspected Chinese pirate vessel and officials said they believed they had sunk the craft. On Feb. 10 Philippine Navy craft detained a suspected Chinese pirate ship and its 20-member crew after a gun battle. Automatic weapons were used in the fight, but it appeared the pirate crew jettisoned the weapons when it became apparent they could not escape. However among items discovered on the captured vessel were charts and coastal book maps published by People's Republic of China, specifically by the Navigating Security Department, Navy Headquarters, of the People's Liberation Army. All other documents and items found on board were of Chinese origin, including canned goods, bottled water, cigarettes, rice sacks, a stove, cooking gas, spare parts, tools and clothing, according to government sources.

The ship carried two sets of registration, one identifying itself as the Shan Yunn 0386, registered in Lufeng Public Safety Bureau, Jieshi, in Guangdong province in June 1995. The other set identified the ship as the Hai Dong 0386 registered at the Haikang Chi Sui Frontier, also in Guangdong but with the date unknown. Both registration documents appeared genuine. Guangdong is adjacent to Victoria and Hong Kong.

The concern about the collaboration, or direct involvement, of Chinese officials in the piracy off the Chinese coast is seconded by the annual IMB report which says: "Vessels continue to report that they have been shadowed, boarded or hijacked by Chinese customs launches or vessels that resemble them." The IMB specifically pointed out a case which we had been following, that of the Anna Sierra, which was hijacked in September 1995 with a cargo of sugar worth $4 million. After being taken by pirates the vessel was renamed and taken to a south China port and set adrift in makeshift life rafts. There is considerable cause for suspicion that the piratical act was officially sanctioned by the Chinese government, or that the perpetrators enjoy the protection of high officials. The IMB report diplomatically alludes to that contention saying: "The dramatic case of the Anna Sierra, which is still detained in China with the suspected pirates aboard, should be followed with interest.

The hand-over of Hong Kong to Chinese authorities may have some impact on the number of piratical attacks in that area as the waters become Sino-patrolled.

Bangladesh

Some of the most lethal pirate attacks in the world have taken place in the Bay of Bengal, off Bangladesh. For instance, pirates attacked several fishing trawlers and killed 14 fishermen. Two survivors said about 30 pirates, carrying automatic weapons, attacked the trawlers from four speedboats. They ordered the fishermen to jump into the sea and then hijacked one of the trawlers with its catch of fish worth $50,000. A month previous, pirates hijacked another trawler off the coast of Pattakhali, 95 miles south of Dhaka, and threw 13 crew members overboard.

The Regional Piracy Center has noted that the Bangladesh navy and coast guard agreed at the end of 1996 to patrol the port of Chittagong regularly after crews of coasters and lighter vessels refused to venture into the outer anchorage unless given adequate protection.

Indonesia

The greatest number of pirate attacks in 1996 was in Indonesia with 51 incidents, against 34 the previous year. Indonesia has seen a steady growth in such attacks since 1993.

The Kuala Lumpur-based piracy information center reports that anchored ships took the biggest hit in Indonesian waters. According to the IMB center, of the 17 incidents reported in the archipelago in the first five months of 1996, 16 of them involved ships in port. (A total of 22 piracy cases was reported in Indonesia the previous year. There were just 11 in 1993.) In all of the most recently reported attacks the pirates went for cash, crew's valuables and ship's properties.

In all fairness to Indonesia, it should be noted that piracy in the Straits of Malacca has shown a dramatic decline due in no small part to the efforts of the Indonesians. There were 200 recorded cases of piracy in the straits, which link the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, in 1991. The drop occurred after Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore began joint patrols of the waterway. However, the IMB said in its report covering the first three months of the year that some Singapore shipping companies were beginning to doubt the efficacy of joint patrols carried out by the navies of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore after the recent hijacking of the Wint Thai No.1 and the theft of its cargo.

India

The IMB reports that in Calcutta ship traffic has been restricted to daylight operations because of night pirate attacks.

Somalia

Pirates operating in Somalian waters have not hesitated to blast ships with mortars and grenades. For instance the MV Ming Bright (22,738 gross tons) was shelled by pirates who put nine holes in its superstructure and containers. The Ming Bright was lucky. Captain, crew and vessel were able to escape before the pirates could board. On another occasion pirates fired a mortar at a British-registered racing yacht, the Longo Barda, in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia. They attempted to board the yacht but sped away when a Canadian Navy ship showed up.

The identity of the Somali pirates is a major question. Pirates in Somalian waters have sometimes misrepresented themselves as the Somali coast guard. There is a good possibility they are corrupt law enforcement officials. And there are indications that militia forces which were under the control of Farah Aideed before his death--the warlord who successfully thumbed his nose at the U.N. and who demanded war reparations from the United States--were involved in seagoing forays in which they boarded vessels and captured the crew, who they then hold for ransom. With the August 1996 death of Aideed there was hope that some of that danger might be eliminated. In fact there was a dramatic drop in incidents off Somalia and Djibouti during the first half of the year, even prior to his death, as the number of reported attacks nosed down from 13 to a single incident. But events early in 1997 showed that the problem is far from solved. Somali gunmen seized a Kenyan cargo ship off the southern port of Kismayo, demanding an amount reportedly varying between $15,000 and $100 million for its release. About eight militiamen, using speedboats, seized the ship, which was carrying consumer goods from Mombasa, Kenya, before it could enter the port to unload. The militiamen posed as coastguardsmen when they approached the ship in speedboats. Compounding the problem of dealing with piracy in Somali waters is the fact that the country has not had a central government since the overthrow of late dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone has turned into a new, mini-hotspot. It, like China, seems to have a quasi-official tinge and soldiers are known for robbing both boats and cars. The situation deteriorated so much that in October 1996 fishermen working off Sierra Leone struck to protest a surge in piracy there, but called off the work stoppage after a navy patrol arrested five soldiers caught raiding a fishing vessel, fisheries officials said. The capture of the soldiers at Banana Island near Freetown prompted the 1,500 fishing workers to call off a 10- day-old strike intended to put pressure on the government to act against mounting piracy on fishing vessels off Sierra Leone. The work stoppage was an international affair--the striking trawler workers were from Sierra Leone, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Spain, Portugal and South Korea. In one of the cases that led up to strike a South Korean captain on one trawler attacked in broad daylight was beaten senseless and then thrown from the boat's top deck into the main hold.

Later, in October 1996, hooded pirates firing AK-47 automatic rifles attacked a Greek fishing boat off Sierra Leone, wounding some crew. In that incident 11 pirates, most wearing army fatigues, fired on the Alex 3 at close range before boarding it in the night. The captain said he sounded the alarm as soon as he saw them. But their attack was fast and furious and they were in full control of the boat even before the crew knew what was happening. The captain said he was clubbed to the deck with rifle butts and robbed of a gold chain and watch. The pirates also stole fish and shrimps valued at thousands of dollars.

Brazil

In 1996 Brazilian waters had the distinction of being the second- most pirate-plagued waters in the world, with 15 cases of piracy reported. The attackers are heavily armed gangs. Most of the attacks took place when ships were in port or anchored. The annual piracy report warned that Brazil could continue to suffer such violence as authorities have proven indifferent to the problem. ``Brazil remains a highly dangerous area and this will continue to be so as long as the authorities fail to acknowledge the situation,'' it said. Brazil had 13 reported attacks in 1994.

There appears to be a pattern to the attacks in Brazilian waters. Many were reported attacks took place off anchorages, and the pirates were reported to be armed. There was another pattern: Radio calls made to port authorities met with little to no response.

Nicaragua

Heavily armed men in speed boats have been attacking shrimping boats and other craft off the Nicaraguan coast in the mid-90s. One company, Gulf King, has suffered more than a score assaults since 1995 in the Caribbean region near the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border. The boats are believed to come from Costa Rica and carry an array of impressive military equipment.

Conclusions

Projections, based on incidents over the last six years, suggest that pirates will be active in Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Brazil, Somalia, Bangladesh, and Nicaragua during 1997. Given the dangers, vessels which are transiting or anchoring in pirate-plagued waters need to be properly prepared and outfitted to repel boarding parties. Lighting, special anti-boarding watches, proper weaponry wielded by trained crewmen, and the best navigational equipment (including satellite positioning systems) are the basic tools to avoiding or preventing piracy.

The crews of high-value targets need to be trained how to protect themselves and their vessels. Captains need to be well versed in, and must be willing to employ, techniques that will discourage pirates from attacking in the first place. And if attacked, captain and crew need to be capable of repelling the attack with minimal casualties to themselves as well as minimal damage to the vessel. Vessels which are sailing without the proper equipment, and crew who have not been specially trained to deal with the unique problems posed by piracy, become attractive targets to seaborne terrorists.

There is every bit as great a need for anti-piracy training for yachts and large pleasure craft as there is for commercial vessels. In August of 1996, four pirates using a small pedal-powered dinghy and wielding a handgun attacked a British yacht and robbed six French passengers of cash and jewelry worth thousands of dollars. Italian media said the yacht Renalo was moored off the coast of Calabria in the toe of the boot of Italy, having arrived at the seaside town of Scilla just hours before the bandits struck. One report said the pirates had asked a lifeguard at the beach if they could rent his pedalo, or pedal-powered dinghy, threatening him with a pistol when he refused. Then paddling toward the Renalo moored only hundreds of yards from the shore, the robbers drew alongside the 272-foot (34-m) yacht, boarded and tied up the six crew and six passengers. Police said the pirates stole the equivalent of $2,600 in currency and pocketed jewelry worth thousands of dollars. The thieves then made off in an inflatable power boat that had been stolen earlier and taken to the scene of the crime by an accomplice, investigators said. Police said the crime was most likely not the work of local crime syndicates that infest the southern Italian region, but a freelance operation conceived and carried out by local drug addicts. Italian media said the passengers and crew of the Renalo, which came to Scilla after a tour of the Eolian Islands north of Sicily, planned to cut short their holiday following the robbery.