Piracy attacks up 9%

Piracy attacks up 9%    Pirate attacks worldwide during the first quarter of 2006 increased 8.9 percent to 61 incidents, compared with 56 in the same period 2005, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) of the International Chamber of Commerce reported.
   The bureau said 63 crewmembers were taken hostage in the first quarter, more than double the number for the same period last year, with 13 crewmembers kidnapped for ransom.
   “We are pleased to see that the overall level of piracy is not rising dramatically. We attribute this plateau in attacks to increased law enforcement activity in high risk areas, awareness, and anti-piracy watches by shipmasters in risk prone areas,” said IMB Director Capt. Pottengal Mukundan.
   Last month, the Somalian government reportedly requested assistance from the U.S. Navy to help fight piracy off its coast and to establish a new coast guard service, which the East African country has been without since 1991.
   “IMB is calling on law enforcement agencies in Nigeria to increase their efforts to combat piracy. Somalia has no national law enforcement infrastructure, and we call upon the Coalition Naval forces in the region to continue their efforts to pursue pirate vessels and detain the pirates. Recent actions by U.S. Naval and other units have been most helpful in bringing some of these pirates to justice,” Mukundan said.
   The IMB reported no incidents in either the Malacca Straits or India. “Our findings indicate that actions taken by law enforcement agencies, notably in the Malacca Straits and India, have made a major contribution to keeping these figures down. Co-operation between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore is now better than ever before and has played a key role,” Mukundan said.