While an international flotilla of naval vessels continues to play “catch and release” with pirates off the Horn of Africa, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea, the pirates themselves have become far more sophisticated. Where a few years ago, the typical pirate venture appeared to be three men in an open skiff with small arms, today the pirates are well funded, operate from wide ranging mother ships and and use high tech tracking to locate their prey.
Since at least 2007, Somali pirates have had their own Stock Exchange to fund their wide ranging crimes. Yes, a pirate Stock Exchange. Thus far the UN, the United States and the EU have done little to shut it down or to cut off the supply of capital to the pirates. It is often said that the problem of piracy will only be solved on land. Here is a land-based opportunity to strike at piracy that the international community has effectively ignored.
Today’s Pirates Have Their Own Stock Exchange
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