The Pirates of Somalia_ Inside Their Hidden World - Jay Bahadur [92]
Each purchase was carefully noted by the group’s accountant, a man called Mustuku, who acted as a kind of underwriter, assuring understandably wary proprietors that they would eventually be paid for their goods. “If one of the guys wants a car, the accountant will speak to the seller. He’ll tell him, ‘Okay, give him the Land Cruiser. You’re dealing with me now. Just hand him the key and don’t worry about anything—I have your money.’ ”
The next specialized member of the gang was a man to whom Hersi referred only as the “commander of the khat,” whose purpose was simply to manage the mammoth logistical task of keeping the pirates on board the Victoria amply supplied with the drug. “The gang has one or two Land Cruisers at their disposal at all times to take care of things like that,” Hersi explained. “Whatever they need.”
Rounding out the crew was the cooking staff. “The pirates have their own cook, plus an assistant, on the ship,” said Hersi. “They cook their own food, and so does the crew. The pirates never touch the crew’s food, because they’re afraid of poison.” He claimed that both the cook and the sous-chef would receive $15,000 for their services.
Computer, it turned out, was the gang’s big winner. “When I left them, the pirates were coming close to agreeing on a ransom, around $3 million,” said Hersi. Computer, he said, would receive half of this predicted amount—$1.5 million—without ever having set foot in a skiff. But he was also solely responsible for financing the gang’s operating expenses incurred during the lengthy ransom negotiation period. Like the other members of the gang, he had taken out a loan to help pay the bills.
“Everything is twice as expensive,” Hersi explained. “Food, guns, mirra, cigarettes, a glass of water, whatever. They pay 100 per cent interest on everything.” The credit was issued in two forms, either as deferred payments to merchants—for example, a khat vendor (who in turn would obtain credit from her supplier)—or as direct cash loans from local businessmen. Under such usurious conditions, footing the bill for dozens of men over a period of more than two months added up to a staggering sum, even in Somalia. Hersi guessed that Computer was on track to spend $500,000 on expenses. But if Computer was feeling the pressure of his financial responsibilities, he was not showing any signs of it.
“Once, a woman came crying to Computer, telling him, ‘Computer, Computer, I love you,’ ” said Hersi. “ ‘Why are you crying?’ he asked. ‘Everyone has a car, I need one too,’ she says. So Computer shouts at a young guy driving a white Land Cruiser on the street to stop his car. And he stops. ‘How much for this car?’ he says. ‘Sixteen thousand dollars? Here you go, give me the keys.’ And he gives the car to the woman! ‘Why are you crying?’ he says. ‘Take the keys.’ I saw this with my own eyes, I swear.”
Perhaps because of tales such as this, the pirates—after having successfully avoided the patrols of state-of-the-art warships—later found themselves hunted on land by their own friends and relatives. “Everyone is trying to call them, trying to ask them for money. So they go and lock themselves inside a house and turn off their phones,” said Hersi. “Maybe they come out after ten days, when they have to, but then they’ll go right back in. Everyone is chasing them.”
When they could not stay holed up any longer, the pirates turned their attention to women. With their new-found wealth, they were able to afford to marry younger and more attractive wives; the ten Victoria attackers, said Hersi, had already married, and not for the first time. “They used to only