SOMALI pirates abandoned a Ukrainian ship laden with tanks yesterday after being paid a record ransom.
The MV Faina had been held for more than four months before its owners delivered $3.2 million in an airdrop on Wednesday.
Yesterday a fleet of small skiffs ferried about 100 pirates back to the mainland after they had divided up their loot under the watchful gaze of US warships, which had stayed close to the ship to ensure its deadly cargo did not reach Islamist insurgents.
“It was dropped on to the boat in a capsule from an aeroplane at mid-day on Wednesday,” said a Somali businessman who was close to the negotiations. “That’s the affair over.”
The Belize-flagged Faina was on her way to the Kenyan port of Mombasa when she was snatched. She was carrying 33 T-72 tanks as well as rocket-propelled grenades and ammunition. The pirates claimed documents on board showed the arsenal was bound for southern Sudan, in breach of a peace deal.
Kenya has issued a series of angry denials insisting it bought the hardware for its own military.
The high-profile seizure raised concerns around the world that the pirates were out of control and prompted the EU, Nato and individual nations to send warships to patrol the Gulf of Aden.
That was not enough to prevent a record year for the pirates last year. They launched more than 100 attacks and snatched 42 ships.
The ordeal is over now for the 20-strong crew of the Faina – 17 Ukrainians, two Russians and a Latvian.
Ukraine’s top human rights official Nina Karpachova said US navy doctors would be sent on board to check their health.
They would then test the engines and continue to Mombasa.
Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers’ Assistance Programme, a Kenyan-based piracy monitoring group, said foreign naval ships in the area were moving toward the MV Faina, which he said had yet to leave her mooring off the town of Harardheere.
“We hear the navies are moving closer probably to escort it,” he said. “But it hasn’t changed position yet.”