Moscow, November 11 (Interfax) - The Panama-flagged dry cargo carrier Almezaan en route to Somalia's Mogadishu Port was hijacked by pirates near one of their bases on the country's eastern coast on Nov. 7, Russia's Maritime Bulletin website said on Nov. 11.
Somali pirates demand a ransom of $3 million in exchange for their agreement to free the vessel, which was presumably carrying weapons intended for Somalia’s authorities, the Maritime Bulletin said.
The dry cargo carrier was recently brought to the port of Garacad on Somalia’s southern coast.
"It is known that, prior to the vessel’s seizure, the authorities in Mogadishu were preparing to receive some military cargo. It is also known that the Al Shabaab Islamist movement showed such serious interest in this vessel and its cargo that it decided to send large units to Garacad," the website said.
However, the operator of the dry cargo carrier and the recipient of the cargo insist that the vessel was delivering "more than 2, 000 tonnes of mass consumption products, mainly electronic devices," it said.
Pirates will most likely appropriate the vessel’s possible cargo of weapons and ammunition, the website said.
"Such a major amount of weapons and ammunition will certainly influence pirates’ activity and their numbers," it said.
The Almezaan is operated by an 18-strong crew, including 15 Indian citizens, two citizens of Pakistan and one sailor from Somalia.
We remind that this is another seizure by Somali pirates revealed by officials since the beginning of the week. Nov 9. seized a United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship loaded with weapons. Somali pirates have hijacked a Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship carrying chemicals from Kuwait to South Africa. These cases madethe European Union and the Seychelles sign an agreement on Nov. 10 allowing the deployment of EU troops on the Indian Ocean islands to counter a maritime crime wave by Somali pirates. And this measure seemed to have forced pirates to extend their range to strike deep into the Indian Ocean.
