The Pirates of Somalia_ Inside Their Hidden World - Jay Bahadur [100]
“ ‘Fuck Loyan,’ they said. ‘Start the engine!’ Then one of them points a gun at my head,” Mihai said, raising an imaginary weapon to my temple. “And tells me that if I don’t start the engine in five minutes he’ll kill me.” In desperation, Captain Tinu convinced the would-be absconders to first speak with their boss on the shore. Two or three minutes later, Tinu was on the satellite phone with the group’s chief (presumably Computer), who did not prove much more helpful.
“Captain, please start the engine,” Computer said through the interpreter. “I can’t control these guys, they’re crazy. Do whatever they tell you.” Faced with no alternative, Mihai contacted the engine room and ordered a cold start-up. Seven or eight minutes later, the Victoria weighed anchor and headed south.
“It was a big risk,” said Mihai. “The engine could have easily broken down.” If the pirates had had a good reason for risking damage to their hard-won prize, the Chief was not aware of it. After sailing south for six hours, the Victoria dropped anchor for two or three hours before turning around and heading straight back to Eyl. “I have no idea why they wanted to leave,” he said. “Maybe because they were chewing their drugs.”
If their khat had more influence over the pirates than Computer, one wonders how strong a leader he could have been. Perhaps he could be better likened to the majority shareholder in a company, whose employees—as is the case in any corporation—sometimes functioned in divergent and unpredictable ways. Of the nine pirates who attacked the Victoria, Mihai said, three of them held positions of authority over the others, though the exact nature of their power remained a mystery. “One of these leaders was very dangerous,” he said. “Very evil.” Mihai described how Mohamed Abdi, the first pirate to board the ship, had approached him as he was eating in the mess hall with three of his crewmates.
“Chief, today I’m going to kill the whole crew,” he said.
“Why?” Mihai replied, in a tone of mock incredulity. “Why you gonna kill me? I’m on board this ship working for the German company to make money. I have a wife and children to support, no? You understand?”
“Yes, Chief.”
“You are a pirate. Why’d you capture this ship?—For money, no?”
“Yes, Chief.”
“Then, Romanian and Somalian, we’re the same, no?”
“Okay, Chief. I’ll kill the Germans instead.”
Mihai burst into hearty laughter, and my interpreter and I could not help but join him.
* * *
With the air conditioning switched off to conserve power, most of the crew was forced to sleep on the floor on mattresses the Chief had managed to beg from their captors, while the pirates slept comfortably in their beds. To pass the time, Mihai and his crewmates watched movies (the Victoria had a library of over a thousand DVDs), listened to music, and played cards and backgammon. Cigarettes were ample; at sixty cents a pack, the pirates were extremely liberal in providing them to the crew. The Chief lamented, however, that there had been no alcohol to help them pass the time; the crew had intended to replenish their depleted supply once they reached their destination of Jeddah. Contrary to Hersi’s assertions, Mihai never witnessed the pirates consume any alcohol themselves.
“I asked one pirate: Why don’t you drink? Because of the Koran?” he said.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“You read the Koran?”
“Yes, Chief.”
“What else does the Koran say? Don’t kill, don’t kidnap people …?”
“Yes, Chief.”
The pirates showed as little regard for the Koranic injunctions against theft. “They stole everything, even Ruxandra’s Tampax and underwear,” said Mihai. The pirates’ cook had taken a liking to her, and managed to convince his colleagues to return all of her belongings. The Chief was not so lucky: he lost his mobile phone, a pair of shoes, two bags, a set of pyjamas, two sweatshirts, a leather jacket, and around $500 in