Modern day pirates

The history of piracy is as old as the history of sailing, and still poses a serious problem. The modern day pirates operate e.g. in the Indian Ocean, mainly within the area of the Somali Peninsula, also called the „Horn of Africa”, which is related to the civil war in Somalia unleashed in 1991. The pirates come from among former fishermen, and have high-speed motor boats equipped with machine guns and grenade launchers (they are armed mainly with Kalashnikov AK rifles and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers RPG -7). By boarding, they take control of the ship and then extort ransom for the crew, ship and cargo. The navies of many countries (e.g.: the USA, India, France, Russia) work together to fight this plague, however, the conducted operations fail to bring the expected results. The activities of the pirates make the world economy lose $10bn per annum.

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