SEYCHELLES TO HOST NEW ANTI PIRACY UNIT
The authorities in the Seychelles, already at the forefront of the fight against the ocean terrorists from Somalia, have reportedly agreed to jointly set up and host a new anti piracy unit with British Metropolitan police specialists from the Serious and Organized Crime division. The newly constituted team is taking aim to track, disrupt and bring down the financiers and masterminds behind ship hijackings, using all available means already employed to track, disrupt and destroy other terrorist networks threatening global liberties and freedom.
Based on the island of Mahe the unit will follow the money trails, and collect evidence against in some cases already suspected criminals who make huge returns from the ransom extracted from shipping lines which they then invest back into drug and arms trafficking according to information received from sources in Mahe.
This development has been hinted at already several months ago when this correspondent interviewed the Seychelles Minister for Home Affairs, the Hon. Joel Morgan, who was outspoken and candid over his countrys views on the curse and how the government in Victoria intended to tackle piracy from all directions. The interview was subsequently published through eTNs Executive Talk and can be accessed through the following link for the entire interview: http://www.eturbonews.com/23431/etn-speaks-seychelles-minister-hon-joel-morgan
The Seychelles have, besides being a leading member of the naval coalition, substantially boosted their naval and aerial capabilities over the past two years, given intensive training to Seychellois personnel both abroad and within the theatre of operations. The government of President James Michel has also given the United States an operational base for several unarmed UAVs which are on constant patrol over the Indian Ocean to protect the territorial waters of the Seychelles and the sea-lanes at large, able to direct surface assets towards targets to either scare off, intercept or destroy. In several daring operations have the Seychelles coast guard also freed hijacked vessels without the loss of friendlies, and brought a number of pirates to justice in swift prosecutions ending with prison terms of in average 20 years for the criminals. Additionally have the Seychelles closed ranks with African mainland governments to share intelligence information, joint training and to use bilateral and multilateral operations to intercept pirate motherships and skiffs when they have been identified from the air. As a result of their determined and robust exchanges with the ocean terrorists has the country attracted substantial material aid and support in their fight and gained significant political standing within the global community. Watch this space.
