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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Somali pirates bag record ransom, free tanker

PressTV

Somali pirates have released a Greek oil tanker with 2 million barrels aboard after receiving a record ransom on Monday, maritime officials reported.

"We have agreed to solve our disagreements and release the ship. It is free and sailing away now," one of the pirates, who identified himself as Hassan, told Reuters by telephone. "The crew are all safe."

The 28-member crew aboard the Maran Centaurus consisted of 16 Filipinos, 9 Greeks, 2 Ukrainians, and a Romanian sailor.

The amount of ransom paid to the pirates, the highest ever to be reported, believed to be between USD 5.5mn and USD 7mn, officials said.

"The stash of the record-breaking ransom ... is reportedly now held in a heavily guarded house in Haradheere," Ecoterra International, a Nairobi-based group that monitors shipping off Somalia reported.

The agency said the pirate-run port was now very tense because the sharing of the funds had not yet taken place.

The Maran Centaurus was hijacked on November 29, 2009, near the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

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