3500 Somali pirates and $170 million ransom in 2011 according to UNODC

(BRUSSELS2) Somali pirates made a turnover of $2011 million in ransoms in 170, a marked increase compared to the $110 million obtained in 2010, according to figures provided by UNODC, the United Nations agency United Against Crime and Drugs, at the Somalia conference in London. And we can estimate around 3500 people working as pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, said UNODC's Wayne Miller. These estimates are based on discussions with pirates in Somalia last November, according to Bloomberg. NB: This figure seems realistic when we know that 1000 suspects have already been imprisoned (and more than half already sentenced to prison terms). And that the marines deployed in the Indian Ocean regularly arrest suspects and then release them, for lack of evidence or places of prosecution. About a thousand have been released this year, according to diplomatic sources.