Somali pirates who hijacked a Chinese fishing boat have demanded a ransom payment for the vessel and its 18 crew members, police and local officials said on Saturday.
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It was not immediately clear when the ship was taken hostage by gunmen wielding AK-47 assault rifles but the European Union’s anti-piracy force drew global attention to the incident on Thursday.
“The pirates are moving the ship off the coast … they are looking for a safe haven,” said Mohamed Dini, a police officer in Eyl, a traditional pirate stronghold on Puntland’s east coast.
The boat was hijacked by men who had been contracted to provide “protection” before later being reinforced by other pirates, Dini said, adding that they had demanded payment for its release.
Ali Warsame, a local elder familiar with the case, said a Somali company acting on the boat’s behalf had offered to pay a US$300,000 ransom. But the proposal was declined by the pirates.
Local fishermen said the boat came close to Eyl on Friday, but the pirates pushed back into the sea out of fear of Puntland’s coastguards. But “they cannot move deeper towards the ocean because they are afraid of the foreign military ships”, said fisherman Abdirahman Said.