Smells like CIA NOC to me.
"Somalia says pirates hold 4 from US" by Associated Press / February 19, 2011
UNITED NATIONS — Somalia’s UN Mission said yesterday that pirates hijacked a yacht carrying four US citizens in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast. A website chronicling the voyage of a yacht named S/V Quest describes it as being the home of Jean and Scott Adam. The couple has been sailing around the world since December 2004, according to the website."
So what is the cover story this time?
"US assessing options in hijacking of couple by Somali pirates" by Jason Straziuso, Associated Press / February 20, 2011
NAIROBI — Somali pirates have hijacked the yacht of an American couple who traveled the world handing out Bibles, and the US government said yesterday it was assessing possible responses.
Pirates hijacked the yacht Quest on Friday, two days after a Somali pirate was sentenced to 33 years in prison by a New York court for the 2009 hijacking of the Maersk Alabama. That incident ended when Navy sharpshooters killed two pirates holding the ship’s captain, Richard Phillips.
See: The Somalia Set-Up: Hero Captain Was a Hoax
I beginning to believe everything you see on AmeriKan TV is a staged production.
They even made a TV show out of the thing.
The Quest is the home of Jean and Scott Adam, a California couple who have been sailing around the world since December 2004, according to a website they keep. Two other Americans were also believed to be on board.
And who would they be, 'eh?
The couple — who are members of the Marina del Rey Yacht Club in California — run a Bible ministry, according to their website, and have been distributing Bibles to schools and churches in remote villages in areas including the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America, and French Polynesia.
The yacht is expected to reach Somalia today. A US military spokesman said: “We’re aware of the situation and we continue to monitor it.’’
“All relevant US agencies are monitoring the situation, working to develop further information, assess options, and possible responses,’’ said Matt Goshko, a US Embassy spokesman in Nairobi.
Pirates have increased attacks off East Africa in recent years despite an international flotilla of warships dedicated to protecting vessels and stopping the assaults. Multimillion-dollar ransoms are fueling the trade, and the prices for releasing a ship and hostages have risen sharply.
Yeah, doesn't that just STINK to HIGH HEAVEN!!??
If the world's navies can't defeat pirates how they ever gonna win a war?
Pirates currently hold 30 ships and about 660 hostages, not counting the Quest.
US officials will probably try to prevent the Adams’s yacht from reaching Somalia, where rescue options become limited.
They must have reached port by now, and I have seen nothing since.
The Adams’s website chronicles their travels over the past seven years. They most recently sailed from Thailand to Sri Lanka and India and were on their way to Oman when captured.
Djibouti — the tiny East African country north of Somalia — had been next on their list.
“Djibouti is a big refueling stop. I have NO idea what will happen in these ports, but perhaps we’ll do some local touring,’’ the couple’s website says.
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Related(?):
"Pirate gets 33-year sentence; Captain from Vt. was kidnapped, held as hostage" by Tom Hays, Associated Press / February 17, 2011
NEW YORK — A Somali pirate who kidnapped and brutalized the captain of a US-flagged merchant ship off the coast of Africa in 2009 was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison yesterday by an emotional judge who told him he deserved a stiff punishment for leading a crew of armed bandits bent on committing depraved acts.
So how many years are the Israeli commandos going to get for murdering an American aboard the Gaza aid flotilla?
US District Judge Loretta A. Preska choked up as she read letters written by Captain Richard Phillips and traumatized sailors who were aboard the cargo vessel commandeered by Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse.
The piracy on the Indian Ocean and elsewhere “is not a Disneyland-esque problem,’’ she quoted Phillips, of Underhill, Vt., as saying. “These are not Johnny Depps. They threaten seamen’s lives, repeatedly. . . . They deprive us of the rights that they themselves complain about.’’
Then why did you ignore warnings to sail further out at sea, Cap'n?
Another officer from the ship, Colin Wright, urged the judge to impose a lengthy term. He recalled being shot at and held at gunpoint by Muse and three other pirates.
“What happened to us was terrible,’’ said Wright, 44, of Galveston, Texas. “I’m not the same person I was, and I never will be.’’
Muse pleaded guilty last year to hijacking, kidnapping, and hostage-taking charges. Before he was sentenced, he apologized to the victims, claiming he was a desperate, small-time player in a Somali piracy syndicate.
“I got my hands into something that was more powerful than me,’’ he said through an interpreter.
Preska imposed the maximum prison sentence of 33 years, nine months. She noted that prosecutors had described the pirates as experienced, coordinated, and sadistic — even playing Russian roulette with their hostages — during the five-day siege of the Maersk Alabama.
“They appeared to relish even their most depraved acts of physical and psychological violence,’’ she said.
Somalis captured by international naval forces have been brought to several countries in Europe and Asia to face piracy charges. Criminal cases for piracy are under way in Germany, the Netherlands, India, South Korea, and Malaysia.
Wright, the Maersk Alabama officer, said yesterday that cargo ships need to adopt more serious safety measures.
And who benefit$?
Related: Private Pirate Patrol
So it is MORE than just the WORLD'S NAVIES, and still the problem gets worse, huh?
“We had pocket knives and knives and fire hoses to combat pirates,’’ he said.
He also repeated claims by the crew that Phillips ignored many warnings to keep the ship 600 miles off the Somali coast, saying, “The captain for his reasons put us in a very bad situation.’’
Phillips has called such accusations “spurious.’’ His second-in-command, Shane Murphy of Plymouth, has defended Phillips’ actions.
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Look what else came up in the net:
"Pirates seize US-bound supertanker " by Bloomberg News / February 10, 2011
LONDON — An 1,100-foot supertanker carrying Kuwaiti oil to the United States was seized by pirates off eastern Oman yesterday....
Pirates hijacked a record 53 ships in 2010....
Pirates are operating in new areas....
How can that be with Blackwater and the world's nav.... sigh.
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Update: Pirates Kill Four Americans? Now, where have I heard this before?
