Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: ransom

ransom stories: 17 news summaries

Somali Pirates Demand $7M Ransom for UK Couple

Paul and Rachel Chandler went missing a week ago

Oct 30, 09 5:02 PM CDT
(Newser) - The British couple abducted from their yacht at gunpoint are being held for $7 million ransom, a rep for the Somali pirates who kidnapped them said today. Paul and Rachel Chandler went missing a week ago in the Indian Ocean. "NATO operations had a lot of negative impact here,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • kidnapping • abduction • Indian Ocean • pirates • yachts • ransom • African • Paul Chandler • Rachel Chandler

(Newser) - The hijackers of the Russian-crewed freighter Arctic Sea planned to destroy it if their ransom demand was not met, Reuters reports. “The crew members have already confirmed that the captors demanded a ransom and threatened to blow up the vessel,” says a Russian defense official. There was no... More »

MORE ABOUT:
ship • explosives • hijacker • pirates • Malta • ransom • Arctic Sea • Russian Navy

(Newser) - The missing Maltese-flagged ship that was reported off the coast of Africa appears to have been hijacked for a second time, CNN reports. “There has been a demand for ransom,” a Finnish police official said of the Russian-crewed Arctic Sea. “We are now dealing with two separate... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Africa • Finland • Cape Verde • Malta • ransom • Arctic Sea • hijacking • Russian Navy

Times Reporter Planned Escape for Weeks

Newspaper was prepared to pay $5M ransom to Taliban

Jun 22, 09 5:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - David Rohde escaped from the Taliban only after weeks of planning, taking advantage of a length of rope to aid his descent down a 20-foot wall, the New York Times reports. The journalist and his Afghan colleague waited until a night when the city had electrical power, so the sound... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Taliban • Pakistan • New York Times • Islamic militants • ransom • hostage • David Rohde

Somali Pirates Release Togo Ship, Score
$100K Ransom

Tanker was to deliver food aid to Somalia

Apr 20, 09 8:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Somali pirates have released a Togo-flagged cargo ship that was to deliver food aid to their own country, the BBC reports, but only after securing a ransom rumored to be $100,000. “Somali traders were involved in the release,” a pirate source told Reuters. They paid “not... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • release • pirates • ransom • cargo ships • food aid • Togo

Somali Pirates Score $3.2M 
Ransom, Release Arms Ship

Pirates receive $3.2M ransom after September hijacking

Feb 5, 09 8:00 AM CST
(Newser) - Crime does pay—to the tune of the $3.2 million ransom that Somali pirates collected today in exchange for releasing a Ukrainian ship they hijacked in September, reports the BBC. The pirates had initially sought $20 million for the arms-laden MV Faina, which had been en route to Kenya.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • Kenya • ship • piracy • Ukraine • pirates • weapons • ransom

5 Somali Pirates Drown With Ransom Share

Tanker released after $3M airdrop, but pirate boat flips in storm

Jan 10, 09 7:40 AM CST
(AP) - Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker yesterday drowned with their share of a reported $3 million ransom after their small boat capsized, the AP reports. The boat, with eight people on board, overturned in a storm; three people reached shore after swimming for several... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • piracy • drowning • pirates • ransom

Pirates Free Saudi Tanker,
Get $3M Ransom

Ship headed to safety after November capture

Jan 9, 09 10:09 AM CST
(Newser) - A Saudi tanker taken by Somali pirates in November has been freed after a $3 million ransom was paid, a pirate negotiator said. Pirates have left the ship, which is now headed to safety. The Sirius Star, which carried 2 million oil barrels and 25 crew members, was the largest... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • Saudi Arabia • piracy • fuel tankers • release • pirates • ransom • Sirius Star

 Freed Hostages Blast Pirates  

Hostages released as Somali pirates seize another ship

Nov 25, 08 6:28 AM CST
(Newser) - Crew members freed from a ship seized by Somali pirates say they were harshly treated by their captors and lived in fear of being killed, CNN reports. The men, greeted by relieved friends and family when they arrived home in India, say they were constantly held at gunpoint in a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • piracy • shipping • pirates • ransom • hijacking

Pirates Cut Saudi Tanker Ransom to $15M

Discount from $25M after biggest maritime hijacking in history

Nov 24, 08 8:32 AM CST
(Newser) - After the biggest hijacking in maritime history, Somali pirates have cut their ransom demand for a Saudi supertanker from $25 million to $15 million, Reuters reports. The Sirius Star, carrying $100 million in oil and 25 international crew members, was nabbed southeast of Kenya and has been moved to 62... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • piracy • militia • Islamist • pirates • Horn of Africa • ransom • hijacking

 Pirates Demand 
 $25M for Saudi 
 Supertanker 

Saudis have ten days to pay up to save crew and oil

Nov 21, 08 2:37 AM CST
(Newser) - Pirates who seized a Saudi supertanker and its crew have demanded a $25 million ransom from its owners within 10 days, reports the Guardian. The Sirius Star, which is carrying 2 million barrels of oil, is one of an astounding 17 ships being held by pirates off the coast of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • United Nations • NATO • Saudi Arabia • pirates • ransom • Jaap de Hoop Scheffer • Sirius Star • Vela • Prince Saud al Faisal

Somali Standoff Continues as Nations Move to Fight Piracy

EU plans force to combat maritime criminals, who took $30M in ransom in '08

Oct 2, 08 11:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - With pirates still holding a munitions-laden ship off Somalia’s coast, the European Union plans a security force to crack down on maritime crime in the area, the BBC reports. The US Navy has surrounded the MV Faina to ensure the weapons aboard are not given to terrorists, and Somalia... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • Africa • European Union • pirates • US Navy • ransom

Virtual Kidnap Latest Crime Wave in Mexico

Crooks claim to have kids; terrified
parents pay up

Apr 29, 08 6:02 AM CDT
(Newser) - Mexican crooks are putting a new twist on an old crime with "virtual kidnapping," the New York Times reports. The criminals are cashing in on the widespread fear of kidnapping by calling families and pretending to have snatched a loved one—usually a child—for ransom. Many panicked... More »

MORE ABOUT:
crime • Mexico • organized crime • kidnapping • ransom

Spain Speeds to Save
Pirate Hostages

Fishing boat is latest target of Somali brigands

Apr 21, 08 9:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Spanish naval frigate is steaming to the waters off Somalia to rescue crew members of a tuna boat seized by pirates, reports the BBC. The boat was grabbed just days after French commandos freed hostages from a luxury yacht comandeered by Somali pirates. The tuna boat's 26 crew members... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • Spain • pirates • ransom • fishing boat • hostage

Ignore Pirates or Face
Asylum Claims, UK Says

Navy argues blind eye not best policy

Apr 13, 08 10:37 AM CDT
(Newser) - In an odd new take on piracy, the British Royal Navy has been told by the Foreign Office not to detain pirates—or they may seek asylum to escape death sentences in their home countries. It's not a strategy roundly hailed. “These people commit horrendous offenses. It’s a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Somalia • crime • kidnapping • asylum • Britain • cruise ships • pirates • ransom • cargo ships

Taliban: Korea Paid $4M Ransom

Commander says Seoul paid millions to release hostages

Feb 7, 08 9:40 AM CST
(Newser) - The Taliban released 21 South Korean hostages five months ago only after Seoul paid at least $4 million in ransom, a senior insurgent commander now claims. Contrary to South Korea's official denial to Newsweek that money changed hands, the commander said freeing the missionaries without recompense "would not have... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Taliban • South Korea • Korean hostages • missionaries • ransom • Quetta

Tenn. Man, 94, Kidnapped, Murdered, Mutilated

Man was kidnapped, held for $3K ransom, found with hand cut off

Jan 22, 08 1:18 PM CST
(Newser) - A 94-year-old Tennessee man was found dead with his hand cut off after a relative ran afoul of drug dealers who kidnapped him in retaliation, the Citizen Tribune of Morristown reports. "No one deserved to die like he did," the sheriff said of Willie Morgan. "This poor... More »

MORE ABOUT:
drugs • kidnapping • murder • Tennessee • ransom

17 Stories


from our news partners