Member of Somali pirates don't want called a pirates, they prefer called 'savior sea'. They also never kill as envisaged, they are just plowing and hijacking.
This recognition is delivered by one of the Somali pirates, Boyah, who met by one Guardian journalist, Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Boyah suffering from tuberculosis to stay at the ranch, about 15 kilometers outside the town of Garowe, Eyl region, Somalia.
The man was aged around 40 years refused to say he is a pirate. He prefers the word 'savior sea' because of piracy activities they do at first is to drive out the robbers of seafood in the waters of Somalia in the 90s. Piracy is he doing now regarded as a tax payment on a passing ship in Somali Sea.
Boyah admitted that he is the head of the 500 pirates in the region. He oversees about 35 groups of pirates. Boyah also responsible for the recruitment of the pirates. One of the criteria set by Boyah for a pirate just one, "He's not afraid to die."
Boyah said that he had hijacked around 25 ships. In the hijacking, Boyah said that his group surrounded the target vessels such as wolf surrounded the prey. If the target ship is not afraid and even hit back or run away at high speed, then they give up.
"Only 20 to 30 percent of our piracy efforts are working. This is because we lost the engine speed boat with them, or the intervention of the army," he said.
If the target ship was caught and paid ransom, money amounting to billions of dollars were distributed to various parties. Half of the ransom, said Boyah, given to the pirates. The rest is given to investors, namely those that provide fuel for ships and piracy operations, coast guard, translator, or donated to the poor.
Although included in the category of theft with violence, but Boyah said that they are not dangerous. Pirates, he said, also had a moral.
"We are not murderers, we never kill anyone, we just attacked the ship," he said.
Boyah admitted that he had done anything wrong by doing the hijacking. "We realized that we were wrong. We also realized we no longer have the support of society," he said.
Support is fading, he explained, is because of the large delegation of government and religious leaders who say that the act of piracy is unlawful. Since this is also the number of the pirates in Somalia increasingly reduced and many prefer to seek the lawful employment.