The Pirates of Somalia_ Inside Their Hidden World - Jay Bahadur [117]
The Victoria gang operated under the single investor model, with Computer supplying the entire start-up capital and hence claiming a large slice of the company’s revenues. “In Puntland,” Hansen writes, “local researchers have identified 51 investors, mid-level businessmen mostly from the clans of the respective pirate group.” Computer’s name is probably on that list—particularly if, as suggested in Chapter 14, he is a known Puntland government fugitive.
Payroll
The majority of pirate gangs work on straight commission, a system Hansen playfully labels “no prey, no pay.” Their paycheques, in other words, are contingent on the successful capture and ransoming of a suitable vessel. This commission structure was clearly employed by Computer’s group; without the Victoria, the gang members’ remuneration would have consisted of nothing more than a one-way pleasure cruise in the Gulf of Aden.
3. COST STRUCTURE
Start-up Costs
According to Hansen, the cost of financing a pirate operation ranges from $300 to as high as $30,000. At almost $50,000, Computer’s initial capital outlay was off Hansen’s scale. To blame for his extravagant bill were the dual heavy-duty outboard motors he outfitted to the back of his unusually large attack boat; at 350 horsepower, they were among the most powerful and expensive available.
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses for a typical pirate group, Hansen writes, might run “as low as $100 per day.” At an estimated $3,000 per day, Computer’s gang spent money at a rate several orders of magnitude higher. In their love of deficit spending, however, Computer’s gang was typical. Hansen writes that a hijacked ship is often maintained on credit, and there is no doubt that this was the case with Computer’s operation.
4. ATTACK STRATEGY
Number of Attack Craft
The most common pirate attack strategy, Hansen argues, involves two skiffs (each typically holding five or six pirates), with one covering the other as its occupants attempt to scale the target vessel. Deploying one turbo-charged attack craft carrying nine hijackers, Computer’s modus operandi was atypical. Putting all your pirates in one boat has its perils; if, for instance, the Victoria crew had put up any resistance—such as blasting the would-be boarders with deck hoses—the absence of cover fire might have proved problematic. However, such a strategy also had several advantages: a more comfortable standard of living, additional room to store food and fuel, and more convincing fisherman camouflage.
Solitary Boarder
According to Hansen, standard operating procedure for a pirate boarding dictates that one lone man scale the sides of the target vessel before all others; in the words of Bossaso-based pirate “Red Beard”: “One man goes first and that man gives information back to us and we all board the ship then.” In this respect, the Victoria gang followed the industry norm; their trailblazer, of course, was Mohamed Abdi.
“Attack” and “Hold” Teams
“The groups are often, but not always, divided into an attack team and hold team,” writes Hansen. This attacker/holder dichotomy was certainly an organizational feature of Computer’s group. The attackers, like an entitled officer corps, enjoyed a higher status than the holders, and greater flexibility when it came to taking shore leave. Furthermore, the “three leaders” identified by hostage Traian Mihai all came from the attacker caste, and each attacker received a significantly higher payout than the holders.
5. TECHNOLOGY
Though Computer’s psychic directions undoubtedly gave the Victoria hijackers a unique advantage over other pirate