16 crew and Italian-owned T/B BUCCANEER released

The 16 crew and Italian-owned T/B BUCCANEER with its two barges were released yesterday, Sunday evening, at around 19h30 local time after a fine was paid and they are now on their way to Djibouti, escorted by an Italian naval vessel.

The four month ordeal is finally over for the 10 Italian, 5 Romanian and the one and they might decide in future not to work on vessels which have clandestine work to do.

The vessel was arrested by Somalis from Laskooray for alleged dumping of waste, though the Italian Foreign Minister Frattini had maintained to profile the case as piracy. His special envoy and an Italian delegation were unsuccessful to achieve a release during the first month of the detention, though they tried only through the authorities from Puntland to talk with what they descibed as pirates.
Though the Italian company - Ravenna-based MICOPERI - as well as the foreign ministry maintain that no ransom was paid, the captors of the vessel and barges stated today that they had received the fine and thereafter released the convoy and crew. The statement by Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, who said the Buccaneer was freed after "exceptional work" on the part of Somali authorities and the Italian intelligence service, received only loud laughter in Northern Somalia.

The final amount paid is, however, not quiet clear because a 500Tsd US Dollar payment was made earlier in order to secure a kind of "omerta" or silence concerning any information, especially regarding the content of the barges, of which one is still half full. Therefore the reported figures of the payment vary between 3.5 and 4.25 mio US dollars. The difference in reported figures might as well origin from different accountings - with or without the silencing money.

In any case it is a tremendous amount of money, which might very well reflect the still lucrative dumping or oil smuggling business and/or the ongoing upsurge in demands from Somali captors.

"Something still is very fishy with this buccaneer ship", a regional analyst stated "and the Italian government better comes clear after a thorough investigation of the case and the company dealings."

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