In the 15 years since armed Somali fishermen began forcing their way onto commercial ships, pirates turned East Africa’s seas into the world’s most dangerous waters.
In 2008 alone, Somalia’s lawless seamen captured more than 40 large vessels in the Gulf of Aden, a shortcut between Asia and Europe that’s vital to the global economy.
It is still not clear where the pirates that attacked the South African vessel originated from, but given that the last time Somali pirates were reported to have conducted an attack was in 2017 off the Coast of Alula, it might as well have been a different group altogether.