What do modern pirates do?
What pirates have always done, but with modern-day weaponry and boats. In one typical hijacking several years ago, 15 men in a small speedboat pulled alongside the cargo vessel Alondra Rainbow off the coast of Indonesia. Using ropes and grappling hooks, they swarmed the deck and overpowered the crew of 17. The masked pirates then transferred the sailors to a rusty freighter, where they were kept bound and blindfolded for a week while the pirate crew made off with the ship and its cargo. When the job was done, the kidnapped sailors were marooned in a rubber raft with the barest provisions. They drifted for 10 days before being rescued. Do pirates still use swords? The ones that attacked the Alondra Rainbow did. They also carried knives and handguns. But pirates of late have become more heavily armed. Many now wield automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. Sometimes, they use speedboats; in other cases, they rely on cheap rubber craft equipped with outboard motors and automatic w
