Ransom bags of dollars were dropped into the water from small plane
photo: Collected
The Somali pirates disembarked the Bangladeshi-flagged vessel MV Abdullah about 8 hours after receiving the ransom. After receiving the liberating dollars, they came aboard and counted them. The bandits left the ship late at night after getting the dollars as per their demand.
A video of the bandits explaining the ransom has been found. It shows how the ransom money is being handed over to the pirates, watched by the sailors standing in a row from the deck of the ship. They were being videoed from behind. Perhaps the person who interceded for the bandits was the one making the video. Armed bandits were also with him. In the beginning, a small plane comes and first drops a bag full of dollars next to the ship. Already the bandits in two small speedboats were alongside the ship. One of the bandits burst out laughing as he read the bag. The bag was later retrieved from the water by a small speed boat. Thus three bags were dropped. About eight hours after receiving the ransom, the pirates left the ship late at night. Before that, however, the owner of the ship, KSRM Group, spoke to all the sailors as per the terms and confirmed that they are healthy.
However, the owner did not say anything about how many dollars were given to the bandits as ransom. After the ship was freed from the bandits, a press conference was organized at KSRM's corporate office in Agrabad, Chattogram city on Sunday afternoon.
Shahriar Jahan, deputy managing director of KSRM Group, said in a press conference, "Our ship left the Somali coast at around 3:00 p.m. on Saturday." We were able to release the ship exactly after 31 days. Basically our ship was about 600 nautical miles away from pirate prone area. The area has not been attacked by ship pirates in the last 8-10 years. That is why the armguard was not kept. Other ships were moving in the same way. But in a war situation, as the warships were busy on the other side, the pirates took the opportunity. But we are able to bring the sailors back to health very quickly, thanks to everyone. The Prime Minister has observed the situation very seriously. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Education have also shown considerable sincerity. The vessel is expected to arrive at Al Harmia port in the United Arab Emirates on April 19 or 20. There is a formality of 4-5 days. After that, the sailors will be brought back to the country.
Mehrul Karim, CEO of KSRM said, "We lacked knowledge when Jahan Mani fell into the hands of bandits. Then the rescue took more time. Now after taking possession of the ship we continue to track the location of the ship. After starting contact, we were talking every day. How the sailors are doing, how soon the bandits will leave the ship etc. Two days ago we demanded that every sailor should be given video before getting ransom. Accordingly we took a video of each sailor. Every act of ransom is done legally. International norms are followed. We cannot say how many dollars for various reasons. The rules of the USA, UK, Somalia and Kenya have to be obeyed. KSRM DMD Sarwar Jahan, Director Karim Uddin, Media Advisor Mizanul Islam were present at the press conference.
