Slashdot Mirror
Somali Pirates Open Up a "Stock Exchange"
reginaldo writes to clue us that pirates in Somalia have opened up a cooperative in Haradheere, where investors can pay money or guns to help their favorite pirate crew for a share of the piracy profits. "'Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 "maritime companies" and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,' Mohammed [a wealthy former pirate who took a Reuters reporter to the facility] said. ... Piracy investor Sahra Ibrahim, a 22-year-old divorcee, was lined up with others waiting for her cut of a ransom pay-out after one of the gangs freed a Spanish tuna fishing vessel. 'I am waiting for my share after I contributed a rocket-propelled grenade for the operation,' she said, adding that she got the weapon from her ex-husband in alimony. 'I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the "company."'"
Sorry to tell the investors this -- but since they are now all complicit in murder,piracy and being (registered) members of a criminal organization this more or less legally opens them up to off-shore shelling by naval warships.
Behold the mighty reach of Capitalism! The waves crash and the seas may boil, but the market reaches into the hearts of even the most desperate!
Who is John Smith?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").