Somali pirates to hold trial of crew of Korean trawler?

Reported here:

The Somali pirates who are still holding the South Korean vessel which was hijacked in the coasts of Harradhere of Mudug region in central Somalia two days ago, disclosed that they would put on trail (sic) the ship and its crew which they accused them of illegal fishing in Somali Waters

In an interview with Radio Shabelle, spokesman for the pirates Mohamed Abdi known as (Afweine) said that they brought all the crewmembers of the vessel to the town so as to be put before justice. They were from Vietnam, China, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Afweine who is commander of the Harardhere pirates said they confiscated 25 tonnes of fish hooked from the Somali coasts which was worthy with more than nine hundred thousand dollars and he selected committee of local fishers and traditional elders to view the condition the seized ship and its crew who would charged with illegal fishing and violations against Somali waters.

“It has been increased the number of illegal fishing boats on Harardher coasts of Somalia and estimate more than 58 ships are on the sea about 40 mile of the coast” he said adding that US navy attacked Somali fishers several times in search of hijacked oil tanker in near by El-Ade port north of Mogadishu.

I can understand the fisheries issues, sort of. But the continued hijacking of vessels like the oil tanker makes the pirates of Somalia look less like a popular coast guard and more like, well, like pirates.

See these earlier posts for some background here, here, here, here, here, here, and here in a post titled, "Somalia, piracy and "illegal" fishing - another side of the story."