Why Mexican 'pirates' are targeting US tourists on Falcon Lake

The attack that allegedly killed the missing American tourist David Hartley on Sept. 30 while he was jet-skiing with his wife was not the first such incident on the 60-mile-long body of water straddling the United States and Mexico. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, gunmen armed with AK-47s and AR-15 rifles have attacked US tourists on Lake Falcon in a string of robberies in recent months. Using Argos-type fishing boats, some attackers are dressed as Mexican police, while others have used crude duct-taped signs to disguise their boats as Texas Parks and Wildlife vessels, according to victims' reports.

Since April 30, five incidents of armed robberies or attempted theft have been reported on Falcon Lake: one in April, two in May, and one in August. The fifth ambush allegedly ended in gunfire last week with the possible death of Mr. Hartley. “This is a new situation where [drug-trafficking] groups feel they own public spaces,” says Humberto Palomares, a security expert at the Tamaulipas campus of the Colegio de Frontera Norte (COLEF). Targeting US tourists on an international reservoir is just another sign that the cartels feel more in control of swaths of Mexican territory and don’t have to hide in wait for moments to strike, Mr. Palomares says. Lurking in the night. So dangerous is Lake Falcon, in fact, that Mexican law enforcement refuses to patrol it at night.

Mexican authorities have been searching Falcon Lake since Thursday for the body of Mr. Hartley. Their search is hampered in part by the danger of the lake, says Juan Antonio Jara, a Tamaulipas state prosecutor in the Miguel Aleman municipality office. Once it starts getting dark, he says, police and investigators must return to shore because "it's a high risk area due to [lack of] security." Some report that the bandits attacking tourists and fishermen on Lake Falcon have been brandishing “Z” tattoos, for the ruthless Zetas drug-trafficking group. But questions have emerged over why a well-funded crime syndicate would bother harassing US fishermen for a few hundred dollars, and whether there is only one gang involved. While the Zetas are the most powerful drug cartel in Tamaulipas, the state bordering Falcon Lake, small organizations associated with the Zetas may also be engaging in acts of piracy.

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Hijacked Tanker Freed in 22-Minute Gunfight

Russian marines on Thursday freed a Russian oil tanker hijacked by Somali pirates a day earlier in the Arabian Sea in a 22-minute gunfight that saw one pirate killed and 10 others arrested. The 23 Russian sailors on the Moscow University tanker — who cut power to the vessel and spent the 20-hour ordeal holed up in the engine room — emerged unharmed, a Navy spokeswoman told The Moscow Times. President Dmitry Medvedev praised the marines for their quick and professional work and ordered that they be decorated with state medals. He promised that the captured pirates would be punished “under the full force of naval law,” Interfax reported.

Russian officials have not decided whether to bring the detained pirates to Moscow or hand them over for trial to an African court. The state-owned tanker was attacked about 350 nautical miles from Socotra, Yemen, in what was the first hijacking of a Russian-owned ship with a Russian crew in the pirate-infested waters off the coast of lawless Somalia. Communication with the ship ceased at 8 a.m. Wednesday Moscow time, when the captain radioed that two boats carrying gunmen had approached the ship and opened fire. The pirates had warned against any rescue attempt, saying they were holding the crew members hostage and taking the tanker to the Somali coast.

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Merchant sailors fight back: Pirate killed off Somalia

A pirate was killed and several others were detained after a security team thwarted an attack in waters off Somalia. The incident happened Tuesday as a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship, the MV Almezaan, was headed to Mogadishu, said the European Union Naval Force. A private security team that was on board the ship returned fire when pirates tried to attack the vessel. The security team was able to repel two attack attempts.

The EU naval force was called in, boarded the three pirate ships and detained six suspects. They also found one pirate who had died of a gunshot wound, the naval force said. No further details were immediately available about his death. The waters off the Somali coast -- the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean -- have been plagued by Somali pirates. The international community has adopted measures such as escorts and monitoring to crack down on piracy. Two cargo ships were seized in the area on Tuesday.

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Somali pirates, security personnel in 4 shootouts

Signaling a new offensive mindset, international military officials vowed Friday to fight the pirates as swarms of Somalis moved into the waters off East Africa. Four shootouts with pirates showed that high-seas attacks are intensifying with the end of the monsoon season. Nearly half the 47 ships hijacked off Somalia last year were taken in March and April — the most dangerous months of the year for ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. In the most serious skirmish Friday, six pirates attacked a vessel before breaking off and chasing the French fishing boat Torre Giulia, said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force.

A French military detachment onboard a nearby ship fired warning shots at the pirates. The ship then approached the skiff and collided with it, sinking the skiff and throwing the pirates into the water. Four were rescued, but two others were missing, Harbour said. A spike in attacks is likely in the coming weeks, said Harbour. This season, though, ship owners and sailors are more prepared to evade pirates, fight back, or they have armed security onboard, raising the likelihood of violence. "We know the monsoon is over. We know they're coming. We're taking the fight to the pirates."

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Rival Somali pirates have shootout over oil tanker release

A shootout between rival Somali pirate gangs over their biggest ransom ever threatened to turn an oil supertanker and the 28 hostages aboard into a massive fireball until bandits begged the international anti-piracy force for help, a negotiator said Monday. A group of pirates showed up in two speedboats just before a $5.5 million ransom was to be dropped by parachute onto the Maran Centaurus, according to a Somali businessman responsible for the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.

The crude oil onboard, estimated to be worth some $150 million at the time it was hijacked, is so flammable that smoking is forbidden on deck. Two helicopters chased away the attackers seeking a cut of the ransom after the pirates onboard called frantically for help. "It's really remarkable: You have the criminals calling on the police to come and help them," said pirate expert Roger Middleton from London-based think tank Chatham House, who said it was the first time he could recall such a situation.

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Somali pirate suspects indicted in Spain

A Spanish judge indicted two Somali pirate suspects in Madrid, while pirates held a Spanish fishing boat and its crew off the Somali coast for the 46th day. The judge indicted the two on 36 counts of kidnapping -- one for each of the 36 crew members being held, and armed robbery. He ordered the two to appear at a hearing Tuesday, according to a court order.

Pirates seized the Spanish fishing boat, the Alakrana, last month. A day later, Spanish military monitoring the situation captured two pirate suspects as they left the fishing boat, and later brought them to Madrid. The ship's owner, Echebastar Fleet, and relatives of the crew members have pleaded with the court and the Spanish government to return the two suspects to Somalia, as pirate representatives have demanded in conversations with Spanish media.

In a document Saturday, the state prosecutor asked Judge Santiago Pedraz to quickly issue the indictment and conclude the judicial investigation to move the case toward a possible trial. The trial could be held within a few weeks, a spokesman for the state prosecutor's office told CNN. The two suspects, identified as Cabdullahi Cabduwily and Rageggesey Hassan Aji, could face sentences of more than 200 years in prison each.

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France seeks Seychelles' help in trying suspected Somali pirates

French Defense Minister Herve Morin asked Seychelles authorities Sunday to prosecute suspected pirates operating in the Indian Ocean. Bringing to justice suspected Somali pirates captured by international navies in the Indian Ocean has proven difficult as lawless Somalia cannot try them, while most European countries do not want to take in a suspected pirate who may then claim asylum. This month, 11 suspected pirates were captured after they tried to attack French tuna boats. The Somalis were released shortly afterward due to a lack of evidence.

On a trip to the Seychelles, Morin told reporters he had asked authorities to set up a legal system allowing for the trial of such suspects. But Joel Morgan, the Seychelles minister in charge of environment, resources and transport, said the island lacked the resources. "We have a single prison here, for some 300 people, so taking in a large number of Somalis can cause problems with capacity," he said. France is protecting its tuna fleet off the Seychelles by deploying marines on the civilian ships. Morin said that mission would be extended into next year.

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Postcards from the Edge: Somalia

Somali Piracy: An Escalating Security Dilemma

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has grown exponentially in recent years. The growing trend, which is the result of a number of factors including the unstable political environment, the collapsed economy, and the presence of Islamic terror groups in Somalia. The research concludes that only a unified stance by the international community that addresses a two-part strategy can facilitate the eradication of Somali piracy. If the global actors involved do not enhance cooperation in the fight against piracy while simultaneously enacting measures to improve stability in Somalia, global commercial trade will continue to suffer from extortion, and Islamic radicalism in Somalia will continue to thrive and potentially overtake the country.

Birthed In Blood, Somali Terror Group Goes Global

In the summer of 2008, a battle raged about 300 miles south of Mogadishu. There, along the banks of the Jubba River, rival militias fought for control of a port city. After days of savage conflict, the victors danced in the bloodied streets. Four years earlier, the Islamist group Al-Shabaab, "the youth," had been just another obscure gang, thugs for hire in Somalia's civil war. Now, they were seasoned warriors, the conquerors of Kismayo.

Al-Shabaab hasn't looked back since. Today, the group aims to be a world-class terrorist outfit, recruiting fighters under the banner of religious holy war. They are more than just a local band of fanatics. They may be plotting the next 9/11. When you start to "connect the dots," (the phrase made famous by the 9/11 Commission), you find there are a lot of dots to connect Al-Shabaab is no home-grown terrorist boy's club. Various news sources report "foreign fighters" have joined their ranks, some in high-level leadership positions. That suggests that group has an international perspective and sees itself as part of the global Islamist campaign.

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Suspected Somali pirates taken to Spain

The Spanish Defense Ministry says two Somalis arrested for allegedly taking part in the hijacking of a Spanish trawler have been brought to Madrid and placed in custody. The two are suspected of helping in the Oct. 2 hijacking of the Alakrana tuna vessel with 36 crew members aboard, some 375 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.

The ship is anchored near an undisclosed Somali port while authorities work to free the ship's crew and vessel. Eleven pirates are believed to be in control of the ship.

The two detainees were captured by Spanish naval forces as they left the Alakrana in a skiff two days after the hijacking. They arrived Monday and will be brought before Judge Baltasar Garzon to face possible charges of kidnapping, criminal association and theft.

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Warships ward off Somali pirates

The number of ships captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia has dropped dramatically in the past two months because of the presence of an international flotilla of warships plying the waters there and a new willingness on the part of merchant vessels to defend themselves.

"People are acting differently, behaving differently, than they were just six months ago," said U.S. Rear Adm. Scott Sanders, commander of an anti-piracy task force in the region.

Military and shipping officials expected a spike in attacks when the monsoon season ended in early August, said Kim Hall, a Center for Naval Analyses specialist at U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain.

There has only been one ship captured since then: a Spanish-flagged fishing boat with a crew of 36 seized Oct. 2. In August and September last year, pirates seized 16 ships, Navy records show. In the same period this year, no ships were seized.

Earlier this year, piracy was threatening to spiral out of control. Armed bands operating from Somalia were hijacking ships and holding crews for millions of dollars in ransom.

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Has Piracy Spread to Europe's Waters? Update 8: 'Pirates' Welcomed Onboard

Eight alleged hijackers of the Russian ship the Arctic Sea were in fact welcomed on board after being rescued in the Baltic Sea, a lawyer claims. Konstantin Baranovsky, who represents one of the eight men, said the alleged pirates were testing a navigation system on a small boat.

They were then rescued after getting into difficulties, Mr Baranovsky said. The eight were arrested in mid-August by the Russian navy and taken to Moscow to face kidnapping and piracy charges.

According to Mr Baranovsky, the eight men were welcomed on board the Arctic Sea, as they were Russians, like the ship's crew. They were offered vodka, and allowed to use the ship's gym. There were many more parties after that first night as the boat continued its voyage from the Baltic Sea through the English Channel and out into the Atlantic Ocean, Mr Baranovsky said. That is where the alleged pirates were eventually arrested.

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