Task force soon may be able to capture pirates

[unhappycamper]

Task force soon may be able to capture pirates
By Lara Jakes - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jan 15, 2009 22:00:16 EST

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is hunting the high seas for pirates to prosecute.

For months, the Navy has sought to prevent or disrupt scores of ship hijackings near the Gulf of Aden, mostly by Somali fishermen. Over the next week, a U.S.-headed task force to stop the pirates is expected to win authority to capture them and take them to court.

“We have to make it unpleasant to be a pirate,” Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney said Thursday. “When we can, we capture them and try them, and hold them accountable for their actions if they’re found guilty, is the way we’re going to go after them.”

More than 100 ships off the Horn of Africa came under siege in the past year, and Gortney said there were about a dozen unsuccessful hijackings so far this month. In the last six weeks, four ships have suffered attacks by pirates.

It’s not yet clear where the pirates from lawless Somalia would be prosecuted, but in the past, Kenyan courts have heard similar cases.


Rest of article at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_somalia_pirates_011509w/%2e