Somali pirates nab record ransom for Greek ship
18/01/2010
MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Pirates got the biggest ransom ever paid for this form of criminal activity Sunday (January 17th), believed in the range of 3.8m-4.8m euros. It was paid for the release of a super-tanker with 2 million barrels of oil worth 97m-104m euros onboard, sailing under the Greek flag. The vessel was abducted in November near the Seychelles, with nine Greeks, one Romanian, 16 Filipinos and two Ukrainian sailors aboard. An airplane reportedly dropped the ransom onto the deck.
According to media reports, rival pirate groups then exchanged gunshots over how to divvy up the money: The group that abducted the ship refused to share it with others from the region where the vessel was anchored. (Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC - 17/01/10)