A silhouette of a small fast-moving dinghy widely used by Somali pirates at dusk. Tanker ships are large, slow-moving, and poorly defended, allowing small groups of pirates to capture them and hold their crews for ransom. (Shutterstock/Viktor Hladchenko)

After Years of Quiet, Somali Piracy Is Back

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Much of the world’s ship traffic passes by the Horn of Africa, creating a target-rich environment for enterprising Somalis seeking an escape from the country’s impoverished conditions.

Somali pirates seized a tanker off the coast of Yemen on Thursday—marking a dramatic resurgence of a threat that had largely remained dormant in the Horn of Africa following a US-led crackdown in the early 2010s.

The United Kingdom ‌Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), a maritime security organization sponsored by the Royal Navy, received a report on Thursday that a group of armed pirates had seized a tanker sailing off the coast of Yemen. Thursday’s hijacking comes only three days after a similar hijacking near the coast of Puntland in northern Somalia, suggesting the start of a broader trend.

Pirates Captured the Tanker—and Are Bringing It Back to Somalia

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