Foreign security team are jailed for 15 years.$3.6 million, earmarked for ransom payment, and aircraft are seized by Somali Government
Two British members of a foreign security company have been sentenced to 15 years and four others to ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine each for illegally bringing $3.6 million in US currency into Somalia intended as ransom payments for ships held by pirates, officials at Mogadishu’s airport told
Somalia Report Saturday.
The six men - one American, three Britons, and two Kenyans – were arrested on May 24 at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport, and have since been held in the airport along with two aircraft.
While the case was held behind closed doors at the airport, several airports official said the men were sentenced under Somali criminal law on Saturday morning. The court also confirmed it was confiscating the money, which is still in Somalia’s central bank, and the two aircraft used by the security team.
There has so far been no official statement from the Somali government. However, a court employee independently informed Somalia Report of the same information. A statement is expected later in the day from Somali authorities.
The men, whose Somali-Canadian lawyer has been attempting to have them released on bail and a later date set for the court case, are to serve out their sentence in Mogadishu, the officials said. However, a a source said the men are unlikely to have to serve their full sentences and discussions are under way to reduce or overturn the penalties.
Britons Andrew Oaks and Alex James work for the security firm Salama Fikira. Salama Fikira is based in Nairobi, Kenya and Mauritius, and run by former British Army Special Air Service (SAS) man Rob Andrew OBE. His co-partner, Conrad Thorpe OBE, was formerly a member of the Royal Marines and the Special Boat Service (SBS). They are known providers of maritime security and other security-related services in the region.
The aircraft involved are a Cessna Citation small business jet, which had arrived from the Seychelles with the ransom money, and a Cessna Caravan single-engine airplane from Nairobi, which was modified to perform the money drops onto ships. These drops involve a GPS-guided parachute with the coordinates of the target ship steering the package onto the deck of the ship. Kenya Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that the planes had been in operation locally for at least the last two years.
The cash was to be used to pay for the release of the MV Suez ($1.5M) and MV Yuan Xiang ($2.1M). Both ships have since been released.
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