Somalian pirates' brazen Indian Ocean reign to net them ransoms of 400 mln by 2015

Mogadishu, June 5 (ANI): Somalian pirates could make about 400 million dollars by 2012, as they continue their brazen reign across the Indian Ocean, according to a study.

According to Fox News, the high sea pirates took an estimated 160 million dollars in ransoms last year.

"It's an established, structured model, where you have Somalis who are leading and financing operations and then you have pirates who actually go out to sea and conduct the activity," Brian Green, chief of the counter-piracy branch of the Office of Naval Intelligence, said.

Piracy worldwide reached an all-time high in 2011, as 544 attacks against ships were reported to the International Maritime Organization, an increase of 11 percent from 2010.

Last year, pirates took payments for 31 ransom, which averaged just more than 5 million dollars each.

With so much money at stake, and so few other prospects for the lawless sailors of Somalia, consulting firm Geopolicity predicts that figure could skyrocket to as much as 400 million dollars by 2015.

The cost to the shipping industry, in extra security and lost time, will reach 15 billion dollars by then, the study revealed.

Efforts by shipping companies to beef up security, and by the European Union, which has mounted air strikes on pirate ships, have so far been met with stepped-up attacks. ANI)