Maritime India Summit discusses piracy as major concern

For years now, several nations have come together to fight piracy across the globe, including Gulf of Aden, but the kingpins or the main culprits have never been apprehended.

This concern was raised by representative of seafarers during the Maritime Security and Counter Piracy session at the Maritime India Summit 2016 on Friday.

"Despite so many nations coming together to fight piracy and several arrests being made, always those arrested are the foot soldiers and are poor and work for USD10 per day. But what about the organisers or the bigger players who operate this financial model by hijacking ships and holding to ransom?," questioned Abdulgani Serang, general secretary and treasurer of National Union of Seafarers of India.

Responding to it, Cyrus Mody, assistant director of International Maritime Bureau (ICC) said that recently one of the kingpins was arrested in South East Asian country, however, the bigger players largely remain elusive due to the several layers that operate under them.

When dna posed the same question to minister of state for home affairs Kiran Rijiju, all he had to offer was, "That's a concern for me too."