And the winner of the world's worst pirate is....
You've seen the videos of burglars and other criminals making stupid mistakes, like robbing a convenience store with a police cruiser in the parking lot, or making funny faces at the security comera. Now, we have the equivalent in modern pirating when pirates attacked a french frigate!
Yes, you read that correctly. The pirates thought they were raiding a merchant ship, but low and behold it was a french military ship patrolling for...pirates. According to CNN and reported at AOL News,
The French Navy said they seized 11 pirates Sunday after they apparently mistook a French military vessel for a commercial ship and made a run at it off the coast of Kenya.
Yes, you read that correctly. The pirates thought they were raiding a merchant ship, but low and behold it was a french military ship patrolling for...pirates. According to CNN and reported at AOL News,
The French Navy said they seized 11 pirates Sunday after they apparently mistook a French military vessel for a commercial ship and made a run at it off the coast of Kenya.
Two pirate assault boats approached the Nivose "at great speed," Capt. Christophe Prazuck said, but a French helicopter intervened before the attackers had time to fire at the French navy ship.
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The helicopter fired warning shots, he said.
The pirates, who had a mother ship as well as the two assault boats, are being held for questioning on the Nivose, Prazuck said. The vessels were carrying AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, but the pirates did not fire, he said.
So, it's even worse because they pirates were operating from a mother ship.
Still, it's good news that the European Union is stepping up to the plate and we are seeing a serious effort to combat pirating.
A photo gallery of modern piracy can be found here and here.
Does anyone know of a similar incident during the Golden Age of piracy?
So, it's even worse because they pirates were operating from a mother ship.
Still, it's good news that the European Union is stepping up to the plate and we are seeing a serious effort to combat pirating.
In the past three weeks, the Nivose has intercepted 24 suspected pirates as part of a European Union anti-piracy operation off the coast of Somalia, which has become a piracy hotspot.
Over the past year, more than 100 suspected pirates have been picked up, Prazuck said. Of that total, 27 have been released, and more than 70 taken to jail in France, handed to authorities in Somalia or taken to Kenya under an EU agreement with the government in Nairobi.
The Nivose seized three other suspected pirates Thursday morning, the French military spokesman said, but released them the next day for lack of evidence.
A photo gallery of modern piracy can be found here and here.
Does anyone know of a similar incident during the Golden Age of piracy?
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