The Patino attackers: simple fishermen or pirates? The Court decides
(BRUSSELS2) THENational Court found six Somalis guilty of piracy for attacking the Spanish naval ship Patino on the night of January 12 to 13, 2012, and sentenced them on Wednesday (October 30) to 8 years in prison — 12 1/2 years for the ringleader, convicted of belonging to a criminal organization —. The interest of this case is to give some details on all the means undertaken by the investigators to provide evidence on the function of the occupants of the skiff.
The second judgment in Spain
The Crown Prosecutor, Teresa Sandoval, had requested 23 years in prison for each of the six defendants: Mahou Elfaf Hamou, Mohamed Hassan Absullah, Absullah Issa Issa, Ahmed Said Mohamed, Mohamed Abdillah Gouled and Mohamed Mohamed Aden. This is not the first judgment of this kind in Spain since the Alakrana pirates had already been sentenced in 2011 (Read: Alakrana kidnappers sentenced to 25 years in prison). But this is the first since the reintroduction of the crime of piracy in the Criminal Code.
Lost at sea?
The Somalis had pleaded well, before the judges (Madrid) that they were " simple fishermen and were unarmed as one of them said in Spanish, a language he learned in detention. According to the Spanish press (Efe in El Mundo et El Pais), they indicated coming “ from a very poor village in Somalia (and) not be pirates or terrorists » and headed for the Spanish ship to " ask for help, (...) because they were lost and hungry "after a week adrift". That's when "the crew fired at them without warning".
Another story, side of the crew
The captain and the two other Spanish sailors who gave evidence during the first session of the trial, explained that they had noticed the presence of pirates and their intention to board the ship, probably. They are the pirates who started shooting and the crew tried to repel the attack indicates the commander who was however not present during the action. " It was about quarter past seven local time, an hour before dawn. I was in my room and about to go up on deck when I received a call. I have been informed that I have detected a skiff approaching and ready to set up a ladder said the commander. " I heard bursts of gunfire for about 20 or 30 seconds. I ended up tying my boots and walking out. When I arrived on deck, it was dark and complete silence (reigned) on the ship ", he added.
Outward signs of piracy
At dawn, the ship's helicopter set off in search of the skiff, recording its movements, " too small to be detected by radar , according to the testimony of another officer. He detected it half an hour later but hidden by the waves, was lost, before finally being found. The helicopter camera was recording everything. " The first thing that surprised us was that there were no fishing nets said Ricardo Giner, the ship's lieutenant and helicopter pilot. At about 300 meters, a burst in the air was fired. " They didn't stop ". Then a second. The shooting injured two people in the Somali boat (another was injured during the attempted boarding).
Weapons...
According to the commander, in the dinghy there was an unusual amount of fuel - about 300 liters - vacuum food and plenty of water, and all the usual signs of a "pirate action group" (PAG ), such as ladders and weapons. The pirates threw overboard " seven assault rifles and two rocket launchers (RPG type), three ladders and a plastic bag, as well as other unidentified objects”.
... a motor
Another sign: the four-meter-long canoe was not like other fishing boats. Too modern. In addition, it was equipped with a motor from the boat a Yamaha 40 was very powerful, and " very expensive for simple fishermen ". The engine serial number is " very close to that of others of the same brand seized on other pirates in the region explained Cubeiro. Investigators believe the attempted collision occurred " by mistake " because of the darkness of the night and the intention of the pirates was to hijack a merchant ship.
... revealing phone calls
Transcripts of the two mobile phones found in the skiff show 12 numbers, which also appeared in other pirate arrests previously made by other boats in Operation Eunavfor Atalanta. Cell phone analysis also confirmed that the days before the attack on the warship received $19.000 to buy weapons and utensils needed for boarding.