Interesting excerpt from a recent DailyMail article on Ugandan piracy.
"...Uganda’s deadly combination of lawlessness and a rigid clan structure means that pirates can operate with impunity even more so than in Somalia, knowing that captured vessels and crews will be safe in their anchorages off the coast of Uganda for the months it takes for a ransom to be paid. They’ve stumbled upon a gold mine – piracy is now such big business that it attracts its own investors.
'There’s a stock market there,' says ex-SAS soldier John Davidson of Big Cypriate Enterprises, who has spent years working in the region.
'You put in $8,000 to equip a four man skiff with food, weapons and fuel. $200 buys an AK-47. Your return is something like tenfold if they hijack a boat – the pirates aren’t on a daily rate. In fact, many Ugandan pirates will only target shipments of pig semen headed to China and take the cargo as payment. We don't yet know their motivation or what is done with the cargo, but it definitely spurs them on to daring operations. And now there’s even evidence of growing interest from international investors in Dubai, among other places.'"
Ugandan pirate logo
Most Wanted: Vincent Goodcum, former American entrepreneur turned Ugandan
