The pirates in Somalia who have seized a Ukrainian ship filled with arms are stating that they only wanted to attack the ship because it was “big”.  From the IHT: The Somali pirates who hijacked a Ukrainian freighter loaded with tanks, artillery, grenade launchers and ammunition said in an interview Tuesday that they had no idea that [...]

The kidnappers of 11 Europeans and 8 Egyptians in Cairo has publicly demanded $6 million in ransom. From the IHT: The kidnappers of 11 European tourists and 8 Egyptians who were taken in a remote desert area of southwestern Egypt on Friday night have demanded $6 million to free them, an Egyptian government official said early Tuesday. [...]

Wired Magazine blog Danger Room has a post on the growing business of Somali Pirates and the amount of revenue they produce. From Danger Room: This is only the latest and most headline-friendly event in worrying trend: Somali gunmen, on land and at sea, are successfully squeezing millions of dollars per month in ransoms from foreign companies [...]

The leader of Somalia’s opposition group is asking the international community to address the issue of piracy off the coast of Somalia. From the AFP (via Google News): Somali waters are the most dangerous in the world for pirate attacks. The International Maritime Bureau reported more than 24 known attacks in the area between April and June [...]

20 people were arrested and 2 hostages were released as Mexican police conducted a daring raid agaisnt a kidnapping gang.  From CNN: The arrests, which included the leader of what authorities said was a top kidnapping gang in the country, comes about two weeks after Mexican President Felipe Calderon met with the country’s 32 governors to create [...]

Reuters has a round up of the recent pirate activity off the coast of Somalia.  From Reuters: Heavily-armed pirates from Somalia have hijacked at least 30 ships this year. Spreading lawlessness, a rampant insurgency and a worsening aid crisis onshore look set to drive that number higher. Somalia’s 3,300 km (2,060 mile) coastline is considered one of the [...]

Col Gaddafi of Libya has been charged with kidnapping by Lebanon thirty years after the disappearance of a Shia Muslim cleric. From BBC News: Lebanon has indicted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi over the disappearance of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric during a visit to Libya 30 years ago. It is widely believed in Lebanon that Sheikh Moussa Sadr, [...]

Pirates off the coast of Somalia are using their ransom payment to fund an Islamist insurgency  on land. From Reuters: n explosion of piracy this month off the coast of Somalia is funding a growing insurgency onshore as the hijackers funnel hefty ransom payments to Islamist rebels, a maritime official said on Sunday. A record four ships were [...]

Source: Daniel Wallis, “Piracy ransoms funding Somalia insurgency,” Reuters, August 24, 2008.

Estimates by independent crime researches in Mexico state that as many as 7,000 people could have been kidnapped in Mexico in 2007. Source: Reuters, “Satellites track Mexico kidnap victims with chips,” Yahoo News, August 21, 2008.