All posts in category Pirates

Freshwater pirates…

in Texas. Really.

McALLEN — Heavily armed Mexican freshwater pirates have been shaking down U.S. boaters on Falcon Lake, a reservoir and bass fishing haven that straddles the Rio Grande.

According to descriptions of the incidents, the robbers — in at least one case posing as Mexican federal law enforcement officers — searched fishermen’s boats for guns and drugs, then demanded cash at gunpoint.

One of the incidents reportedly occurred on the U.S. side of the lake.

You know, robbing Texans just seems like a bad idea to me.

(h/t Men Are Not Potatoes)

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by Jake on May 22, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Crime, National Security, Pirates, WTF?

Posted by Jake on May 22, 2010

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/freshwater-pirates/

A Good Start

This is how you fight piracy

NAIROBI, Kenya – Suspected Somali pirates fired on a U.S. Navy warship off East Africa early Thursday in what appeared to be a ransom-seeking attack on an American guided missile frigate, officials said.

The USS Nicholas returned fire on the pirate skiff, sinking it and confiscating a nearby mothership. The Navy took five pirates into custody, said Navy Lt. Patrick Foughty, a spokesman.

[…]

The U.S. Africa Command said the five pirates seized Thursday would remain in U.S. custody on board the frigate for now. The Nicholas is home-ported in Norfolk, Va.

Seizing or sinking the mothership and taking the pirates prisoner works a whole lot better than just letting them go. Hopefully, these pirates will go to jail for a long time.

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by Jake on April 1, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Pirates

Posted by Jake on April 1, 2010

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/a-good-start/

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Somali pirates attack a Dutch warship:

Troops aboard the Dutch warship HNLMS Tromp fired warning shots Wednesday off the coast of East Africa as suspected Somali pirates in two small skiffs raced toward their warship, the EU Naval Force said.

After the pirates realized they had made what spokesman Cmdr. John Harbour called a “rather silly mistake,” they turned around and fled. EU Naval Force personnel tracked down the two skiffs and a third suspected mothership, finding ammunition and rocket-propelled grenades on board, said Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force.

But that’s not the stupid part. This is:

The two skiffs were destroyed and the pirates were set free on the mothership after it had been cleared of weapons. [emphasis mine]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?

Do they really expect that to stop – or even slightly discourage – these human cockroaches from going right back out and attacking another ship? They probably had replacement skiffs and weapons before the end of the day! If you want to stop piracy, you have to actually punish the pirates! Hanging from the yardarm is a good start.

One of these days, someone is going to get really serious about fighting pirates. Until then, well, we have this idiocy.

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by Jake on March 18, 2010  •  Permalink
Posted in Crime, Pirates, Stupidity

Posted by Jake on March 18, 2010

https://cursesfoiledagain2.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/stupid-stupid-stupid/

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