Somali pirates want $15m for Saudi tanker - Islamists

Mogadishu: Somali pirates holding a Saudi supertanker are demanding a reduced ransom of $15 million, an Islamist group said on Monday.

Earlier reports said the pirates wanted $25 million to release the Sirius Star, which was seized on November 15 in the largest hijacking in maritime history.

But, a spokesman for the Islamic Courts Union (ICU), Abdirahim Isse Adow, whose men are in the Haradheere area where the ship is being held offshore after, said the demand had been reduced.

"Middlemen have given a $15 million ransom figure for the Saudi ship. That is the issue now," Adow said.

The Star holds about $100 million worth of oil on board along with 25 crew members from Britain, Poland, Croatia, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines.
Adow said the pirates had taken the ship further out to 100 km off the coast of central Somalia after Islamists poured searched the town for the group responsible for the capture.

The ICU is working to release the Saudi Arabian Sirius Star because it is a "Muslim" ship, Adow said, but residents say other Islamist militia are intent on getting a cut of any ransom payment.