The number of unreported attacks
in 1999 was estimated by the World Maritime Piracy Report to be 130.
According to "The Economist", the IMO believes that half of all
incidents remain untold. Still, increased patrols and international
collaboration among law enforcement agencies dented the clear upward
trend in maritime crime - even in the piracy capital, Indonesia.
The number of incidents in the pirate-infested Malacca Straits
dropped from 75 to 17 last year - though the number of crew "kidnap
and ransom" operations, especially in Aceh, has increased. Owners
usually pay the "reasonable" amounts demanded - c. $100,000 per
ship. Contrary to folklore, most ships are attacked while at anchor.
Twenty one people, including passengers, were killed last year - and
210 taken hostage. Assaults involving guns were up 50 percent to 73
- those involving mere knives down by a quarter to 105. Piracy seems
to ebb and flow with the business cycles of the host economies. The
Asian crisis, triggered by the freefall of the Thai baht, gave a
boost to East Asian maritime robbers. So did the debt crises of
Latin America a decade earlier. Drug transporters - armed with light
aircraft and high speed motorboats - sometimes double as pirates
during the dry season of crop growth.
Pirates endanger ship and crew.
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