Pirates

Interesting information in Foreign Affairs article 'Terrorism Goes to Sea' by Gal Luft and Anne Korin. The Straits of Malacca is perhaps the most dangerous passage of narrow waters in the world and everyday a quarter of the world's trade passes through it. Most surprising of all is this passage:

Ominously, there have been cases of terrorist pirates hijacking tankers in order to practice steering them through straits and crowded sea-lanes - the maritime equivalent of the September 11 hijackers' training in Florida flight schools...In March 2003, an Indonesian chemical tanker, the Dewi Madrim, was hijacked off Indonesia. The ten armed men who seized the vessel steered it for an hour through the busy Strait of Malacca and then left the ship with equipment and technical documents.

In googling for contemporary reports, I came upon this article which says:

U.S. intelligence officials believe Al Qaeda controls more than a dozen cargo ships. It is difficult for intelligence organizations to find and track these vessels given the extent of document fraud in the shipping industry. It is not uncommon for ships to be repainted and re-registered under fictitious names. Maritime certificate fraud is pervasive in the Philippines and Indonesia, where terrorist organizations linked to Al Qaeda are known to exist.

More than a dozen! I hope somebody is keeping their eye on this particular furball.