SHIP PIRACY CASES DECREASED IN 2001

SHIP PIRACY CASES DECREASED IN 2001    The number of pirate attacks on ships decreased by 27 percent to 335 worldwide last year, according to a report compiled by the International Chamber of Commerce.
   However, the report also said that the number of cases involving the capture and taking of the whole ship doubled from eight to 16 last year.
   The International Chamber of Commerce said that the increase in hijackings is due to greater involvement in piracy by organized crime networks.
   “The hijacking of a whole ship and the resale of its cargo requires huge resources and detailed planning,” said Pottengal Mukundan, director of ICC’s Commercial Crime Services.
   “It typically involves a mother ship from which to launch the attacks, a supply of automatic weapons, false identity papers for the crew and vessel, fake cargo documents, and a broker network to sell the stolen goods illegally,” he added.
   The global piracy statistics are compiled by ICC’s Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur. The center collects data on pirate activity and advises law enforcement, governments and seafarers. It transmits daily alerts to all ships in piracy hotspots.
   Pirates killed a total of 21 crewmembers and ships’ passengers last year, and 210 more were taken hostage. All but one of the murders were in Asian waters.
   Last year, 71 sea attacks involved guns, up from 53 in the year 2000, while assaults using knives fell from 132 to 105.
   Indonesian waters and the Malacca Strait remain the world’s most pirate-infested seas. But the new statistics suggest that recently intensified patrols have helped reduce pirate activity in the area, the ICC said.
   According to Mukundan, there is a greater than ever need to report piracy and increase awareness worldwide, as highly organized and resourced criminal networks move into the field, and attacks at sea become increasingly deadly.
   Mukundan said that the year 2000 was an exceptionally bad year. Figures over a longer period show an underlying upward trend in piracy, and an increase in attacks that are well organized, well funded and violent.