The Business Case For High-Seas Piracy -- A Commentary

The Indian Navy ship Tabar is shown escorting another vessel
(Photo from L.A. Times)

From Reuters:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As far as illicit businesses with low risk and high rewards go, it doesn't get much better than piracy on the high seas. The profit margins can easily surpass those of the cocaine trade. The risks?

"There is no reason not to be a pirate," according to U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney, who commands the U.S. navy's Fifth Fleet. "The vessel I'm trying to pirate, they won't shoot at me. I'm going to get my money." Even pirates who are intercepted have little to fear. "They won't arrest me because there's no place to try me."

Gortney's assessment of piracy's low risk came in a radio interview that focused on the Gulf of Aden, where Somali pirates have carried out a string of increasingly brazen hijackings. Last week they ventured as far as the high seas southeast of Kenya to seize a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million (65 million pounds) worth of U.S.-bound crude.

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