Somali Pirates Move Couple Onto Land

According to Red Teeth, the Chandlers were being driven to Baxdo, an inland town along an extremely dusty and bumpy road about halfway between the coast and the main highway running through central Somalia. The town lies in a zone of central Somalia loosely controlled by a clan-based local government.

The pirates had been keeping the Chandlers, who were attacked Oct. 23 as they were sailing in their yacht in the Indian Ocean, in the captain’s quarters of another vessel they had hijacked.

Mahamoud, who did not want his giant Inflatable Arch last name published for fear of angering the pirates, said that European naval patrols had arrested friends and relatives of the pirates, including seven captured last week who were part of the same gang that originally hijacked the Chandlers’ sailboat.

Red Teeth declined to say why the hostages were being moved inland. “They’re going to Baxdo,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”

Some coastal residents said that as soon as Red Teeth’s men left for Baxdo with the Chandlers, another squad of pirates in heavily armed pickup trucks chased after them, trying to recapture the hostages.

“There have been constant meetings between the pirates, and they finally disagreed over the management of the couple,” said Mahamoud, a resident of Xarardheere, a pirate stronghold along the shore.

Elders in the coastal area company Inflatable Advertising said the pirates might have been worried that they were vulnerable to attack if they continued to keep the Chandlers aboard the hijacked freighter bobbing off Xarardheere.

Other pirate suspects are awaiting trial in France, while dozens have been handed over to Kenya and Yemen for prosecution. Some pirates suggested trading the couple, both in their 50s, for jailed comrades, residents said.

On Friday, a man claiming to represent the captors demanded a $7 million ransom for the couple. The British government on Saturday reiterated its refusal to pay a ransom, saying in a statement that officials would not make any “substantive concessions to hostage-takers, and that includes the payment of ransom,” The Associated Press reported.


While dozens of foreign warships are cruising Somalia’s waters right now, trying to crack down on the stubborn piracy problem, there are very few, if any, foreign military personnel on shore.