Two members of a foreign security company have been sentenced to 15 years and four others to ten years in prison for illegally bringing into Somalia $3.6 million in US currency intended as ransom payments for ships held by pirates, the judge in the case and officials at Mogadishu’s airport told Somalia Report Saturday.
The six - 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 Saturday morning sentenced under Somali criminal law.
The court later confirmed the sentence, and said it was confiscating the money, which is still in Somalia’s central bank, and the two aircraft used by the security team.
"Today ... the Banadir High court sentenced the men to avoid a repeat of the same," Judge Dr Hashi Ilmi told Somalia Report. "The court has ruled that the money as well as the planes be surrendered to the government of Somalia."
The two members of the team are also to be fined $15,000 each, while the other four will have to pay $10,000.
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.
An official at the British embassy in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, who did not wish to be named, said that they had just been informed of the decision and were looking into it.
"At the moment, we are trying make sure they are safe and secure and talking to the families," he told Somalia Report.
The sentence is subject to appeal.
Andrew Oaks and Alex James work for Salama Fikira, a security company 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.
When the team was initially arrested, many saw it as an embarrassing mistake, particularly since the men had the necessary documentation to allow them to land in Mogadishu and there has long been a tacit agreement that the government would turn a blind eye to ransom payments in order to allow shipowners to free their crews. The expectation was that the teams would be released within a few days, but the government has instead chosen to stick to its guns and send out a strong message it does not approve of ransom payments, which many feel encourage pirates to take to the high seas.
While the sentences handed down are heavy, there is a feeling behind the scenes that some kind of deal can be struck that would allow the government to maintain its new strong public stance, but allow the security team to be released upon appeal.
Meanwhile, the president of Puntland, Abdirahman Mohamed Farole, welcomed the sentence and termed it a step in the right direction against Somali pirates, who have made several bases in his region.
"We will continue with the fight against the Somali pirates who have made the Somali coast inaccessible due to their maritime threat and the Mogadishu Court has showed it’s commitment to the fight against piracy," he said.