No Hijacking By Somali Pirates in Nearly a Year | Military.com: The fight against Somali pirates has been so effective that they haven't been able to mount a successful hijacking in nearly a year, the chair of the global group trying to combat the pirates said Thursday.
U.S. diplomat Donna Leigh Hopkins credits the combined efforts of international naval forces and stepped-up security on ships including the use of armed guards. But there are also other factors including the jailing of some 1,140 Somali pirate in 21 countries "which started deglamorizing piracy," she said.
Somali pirates hijacked 46 ships in 2009, 47 in 2010, but only 25 in 2011, an indication that new on-board defenses were working. In 2012, there were just 75 attacks reported off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden - down from 237 attacks in 2011 - and only 14 ships were hijacked, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
