Thai ships near Africa may get armed guards

An armed Thai sailor patrols aboard the HTMSSimilan , now on an anti-piracy mission in the Arabian Sea. WASSANA NANUAM

Adm Takeungsak Wangkaew, the RTN chief-of-staff, said the CMF, a multi-national naval partnership combating piracy near the Horn of Africa, believes the pirates may be connected to international terrorism as piracy entails a complex and growing web of networks involving many interests.
"The US-led CMF is investigating whether the ransoms which Somali pirates gained from hijacked cargo ship owners are being used to fund international terrorist groups," the RTN's Counter Piracy Task Group Commander Thanin Likhitwong said yesterday. The group joined the CMF in Bahrain.
Negotiations over ransoms in exchange for the release of 12 cargo ships seized by Somali pirates were still under way, said Capt Thanin, adding that 322 crew members of these ships were also being held by the pirates.
Capt Thanin said the ransom negotiations were done through companies. Ransoms must be paid in cash only and the cash is stuffed in bags and dropped from a helicopter at a designated spot.
The Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea between Yemen on the south coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia in the Horn of Africa are viewed as "red zones" of piracy, said Capt Thanin.
One way to improve security of the Thai cargo ships passing through the Gulf of Aden would be to deploy armed guards aboard the ships, he said.
The armed guards are likely to be recruited from the navy's special forces such as the SEALs, underwater demolition or reconnaissance teams.
Four to six armed guards would be deployed on each ship.
Capt Paradorn Paungkaew, the RTN's Counter Piracy Task Unit commander, said it was believed that Somali pirates had bought additional heavy weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades for use in their attacks on ships.
However, there had been no reports of them having acquired more destructive weapons, he said.
Adm Takeungsak, meanwhile, said the CMF with 25 member nations was now ready to launch preemptive strikes on the pirates.
A commitment from the international community was being sought to back the planned strikes, he said.
There were 120 reports of piracy and armed robberies of ships in 2008, and more than 200 reported attacks the following year.
Piracy threatens Thailand's sea transport industry in which a monthly average of 18 ships ply the piracy-prone Gulf of Aden carrying goods worth a total of more than 70 billion baht.