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In the last few years, Somali pirates have evolved from a small group of bandits into a network increasingly functioning like a sophisticated global organisation with hijackers, investors, guards, professional negotiators and money laundering agents working in tandem. This efficiency has made it very difficult to counter the threat of piracy but targeting financers and …

The international community needs to attack pirate leaders on land and not just their ships, a top Chinese general said on Wednesday, in the latest call for a bolder response to hijackings at sea. “For counter-piracy campaigns to be effective, we should probably move beyond the ocean and crash their bases on the land,” said …

The vast earnings from piracy off the coast of Somalia leave donor-funded livelihood programmes designed to create economic opportunities for the country’s youth looking like pocket change by comparison, and make the minimal risk of prosecution well worth taking, states a new report on ransom flows. “In the context of ransoms that could well reach …

With domestic availability of coal and limestone being limited steel goods companies along the western coast of India imports the same from other nations; but the process has incurred additional costs as the Somali Pirates threaten the vessels. Indian steel manufacturers and power companies incurred additional cost of 12.8 million dollars on imports during January …

Inida has opposed the extension of the piracy zone in the Indian Ocean region — which brings the boundary of this danger zone close to Indian waters on the west coast — fearing it will hurt merchant vessels by raising their insurance premiums as well as bring foreign navies nearer to Indian shores. The position …

Somali suspected pirates appear behind bars of a court in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden in this July 15, 2009 file photo. Pirate activity has risen steadily. The first three months of 2011 were the worst on record, the EU says, with 77 attacks and hijackings — up from only 36 in the same …

Britain has agreed to fund a £6 million programme to support counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean as evidence grows of increasing levels of violence being used against international seafarers. The UK government funds will be used to help improve maritime surveillance of pirates off the Somali coast and to …

Rate of piracy increasing by 1,000% a year  Suez Canal, vital for international trade, bearing the brunt  1.1% of ships and yachts bound for Suez captured Piracy in the Indian Ocean has now become the single greatest threat to the movement of goods internationally. It costs the world between US $7 billion and US $12 …

The House of Representatives has called on the Indonesian Military (TNI) to cooperate with neighboring countries’ military forces to secure Somali waters, where piracy has become a growing threat to vessels in the area. “Now there must be a comprehensive solution to this problem. It should be considered to cooperate with other countries, such as …

India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives have joined hands to keep the seas in their sphere of influence free from unwanted visitors such as pirates, interlopers and drugrunners. “With Somali pirates getting closer, we have deep concern and are working closely with India and Sri Lanka in preventing any unwarranted incident. We have over 25,000 …