The Panther Bay
Pirate Blog

Paul and Rachel Chandler's harrowing experience as pirate captives is also revealing just how complex pirating has become in the modern world. According to Britain's newspaper The Mail , two of the Somali gang leaders have direct family ties to the U.K. The wife of one of the leaders is actually seeking political asylum in the UK. In telephone conversations during the ransom negotiations, the gang leaders seemingly talked casually about how they would visit the UK to be with their families. From The Mail:

In satellite calls, the pirates have alluded to links with Britain and a man named as Hassan, 32 – said to be one of the ringleaders of the Chandler abduction – was quoted as saying he had a wife and family in the UK and was planning to join them.

He claimed his family had moved to London three years ago, applying for political asylum.

‘She is putting me under pressure to join her and the children, so I will come to the UK soon,’ he said in one telephone call.

‘I am not looking forward to the cold weather, though, and I am worried that women are more powerful in the UK – I don’t know how long I will stay.’

Hassan has also admitted to being involved in the hijacking of tankers and commercial ships which were boarded at gunpoint and released only after multi-million pound ransoms were paid.

It's clear (at least to me) that piracy has become so routine and "normal" that the act was considered just any other business enterprise. And, of course, successful pirating does require organizing. These are, however, criminal enterprises and they depend on their ability to steal, threaten, intimidate and even destroy the fruits of human productivity.

Piracy, like robbery, burglary, and other forms of theft, is a zero sum game; it doesn't add to wealth creation or economic productivity.