‘Crime doesn’t pay,’ goes an old adage. For Somali pirates, though, it seems that crimes does pay. After collecting $3 million in ‘ransom’ for the return of the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star earlier this year, it appears they’ve taken another one. This ship, seized northeast of the Seychelles, was clearly out of the patrol areas of the international anti-piracy fleets.

U.S.-bound oil tanker hijacked off Somalia

(CNN) — An oil tanker bound for the United States was hijacked off Somalia with a crew of 28 aboard, maritime authorities said.

The M/V Maran Centaurus was commandeered about 600 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles, on its way to New Orleans, Louisiana, according to the Maritime Security Center.

The crew consists of 16 Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and a Romanian, said the security agency, which is run by the European naval force.

The 300,000-ton tanker, which started out from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was seized Sunday. It had changed course westward, toward Harardhere or Hobyo, along Somali’s central-western coast.
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