Murdered radio presenter had 'severe head injuries'

Police investigating the "brutal" murder of a radio presenter at her home in Glasgow have revealed she died as a result of "severe head injuries".

Nasim Jamil, 54, who worked on Asian community radio station Awaz FM, was discovered by her daughter at her flat in Byres Road on Wednesday night.

She was last seen alive earlier in the day and is believed to have attended a doctor's appointment.

Police are studying CCTV footage from the area where Mrs Jamil lived.

Forensic officers are examining her flat and door-to-door inquiries are under way. A mobile police office has been sited on Byres Road.

Mrs Jamil, who was widowed and lived with her daughter, was found in her third-floor flat at about 1950 GMT on Wednesday.

Det Ch Insp Louise Raphael, who is in charge of the investigation, said officers were trying to establish a motive for the killing.

Ex-officer tried for 'Dirty War' crimes in Argentina

An ex-navy captain dubbed the Blond Angel of Death has gone on trial in Argentina with 18 others for kidnap and torture during military rule.

Alfredo Astiz and the other defendants are accused of abuses at the Navy Mechanics School detention centre.

He is accused of involvement in the disappearance of dozens of people, including two French nuns.

Between 10,000 and 30,000 people are believed to have been disappeared during the 1976 to 1983 dictatorship.

Mr Astiz is alleged to have had a central role in the abduction and disappearance of the nuns, Alice Domon and Leonie Duquet, investigative journalist Rodolfo Walsh and several founders of a human rights group, the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo.

He is said to have helped security forces by infiltrating meetings of the Mothers at a church in Buenos Aires.

Leonie Duquet was thrown from a plane during one of the many "flights of death" during which the military disposed of prisoners.

Her body was washed ashore and she was buried in an unmarked grave, until her remains were formally identified in 2005. Alice Domon's remains have never been found.

Mr Astiz denies any knowledge of such flights and argues that he was following orders to protect Argentina from extremist violence.

The Argentine courts have identified 250 navy personnel who worked in the Navy Mechanics school at the time - some 70 have been charged so far.

News from Saudi Arabia-A blog on Yar'adua's condition

I just woke up to read this idiotic piece dished out to Nigerians. First, let me say, that beyond all reasonable doubt that if the diagnosis and the muddled up information dished out by the demons in PDP are true, then Mr. Yar'dua is not coming back to Nigeria, at least NOT on his feet.

Please do not get me wrong, do not mistake my take as being cold hearted or see me as a woman without African compassion in her. In fact I feel all these because I was once in the shoes of Mrs Yar'dua. Not that my own man had his kind of influence or money, but I loved him with all my heart all the same.

OK, look at this, the man is not able to speak or he is inaudible if he does. No mam/sir, the man cannot speak at all. The man is on a ventilator, he is intubated to secure the airway because someone did not have the presence of mind to intubate him, secure his airway, hyperventilate him en route to Saudi Arabia, so he SUFFERED ANOXIC NEURO DAMAGE. It takes only 3mins and at best 5 mins for any one to suffer irreversible brain damage without oxygen. So, his fool of a doctor putting him on oxygen via nasal cannula will only give the man nose bleed without making much difference. . Doctors flown in from Germany and America will not make a difference.

Akwa Ibom State: $3.1 million “Etuk money” spills bad blood within government

The report of the $3.1 million money laundering involving the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, has created sharp division and suspicion within the state cabinet. Mrs. Emem Etuk, a Deputy General Manager, Victoria Island Branch (3) of Platinum Habib Bank (BankPHB) was arrested on 11 November 2009 by security operatives at the General Aviation Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos with $3.1 million suspected to belong to the Akwa Ibom State Governor.

Mrs. Etuk’s inability to offer a plausible explanation as to how she came about such a huge amount, or her mission, led to the escalation of the case to the Police Force headquarters in Abuja after she had been detained in Lagos for two weeks. Details of the financial scandal were unknown until SaharaReporters’ revelation earlier this week. Following our exposé, the governor’s agent, one "Centre for Media and Development" has issued a statement defending the governor and dismissing the link between the scam and the governor. Assuming the role of the police and the court, the Magnus Eze-led group submitted that their own investigations had exonerated the governor and that the money was meant for 2009 hajj pilgrims. SaharaReporters can reveal however that whereas the airlift of pilgrims started on 25 October, by 11 November when Mrs. Etuk was arrested, most pilgrims had departed and all travel plans had been concluded. Sources in Government House, Uyo, revealed that the Governor, who became disturbed about how the matter broke in the media after he had successfully suppressed the incident for four weeks following its occurrence, has ordered a secret investigation to unravel those who leaked the information to the press.

Nigeria ex-governor Attahiru Bafarawa in fraud raid

Nigerian anti-corruption officials have raided a meeting of opposition leaders and arrested Attahiru Bafarawa, who ran for president in 2007.

The EFCC accuses him of involvement in a 6bn naira ($40m) fraud from his time as governor of Sokoto State.

At the time of his arrest he was in a meeting trying to form an opposition party for an election due in 2011.

His allies have accused the authorities of trying to scuttle their plans to unite against the ruling party.

Also at the meeting was another former presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari, and ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.

Opposition groups have accused the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crimes Commission) of being a tool for the government to silence its critics.

But the EFCC argues that it has a good record - securing dozens of convictions and recovering billions of dollars.

Yar’Adua’s daughter in the US to have a baby, as father continues search for answers and political manipulators take over Nigeria

Umaru Yar’Adua’s daughter, Nafisat Yuguda, is in the United States to have her first child. She is seven months pregnant. She arrived in New York yesterday accompanied by her husband, Bauchi State governor Isah Yuguda, who has three other wives. Yuguda, whose father-in-law is in a Saudi Arabia hospital being treated for a variety of serious diseases, brought his wife to the United States because no hospital in Bauchi State, which he runs, or anywhere else in Nigeria, was thought to be good enough for the delivery. Last year, Yar’Adua’s second daughter Zainab, who is equally married to another governor, Dakingari of Kebbi State, also delivered her baby in the US. Prior to embarking on his US trip, Yuguda had just returned to Nigeria empty-handed after spending several days in Saudi Arabia unable to see Yar’Adua or confirm his condition. He was evacuated to Jeddah under a medical emergency two weeks ago. Upon arrival in New York, the full machinery of Nigerian diplomatic presence in the United States was fully and shamelessly put in at the service of the governor. Yuguda and his family were personally accompanied and driven to the Chevy Chase area of Maryland by Ambassador Wakil, the acting Nigerian ambassador to the US, who had gone all the way to New York to receive them. The following day, Yuguda and his family moved out of the Chevy Chase accommodation, where they stayed overnight, into a tastefully furnished apartment in Bethesda, Maryland. Nafisat is expected to stay there until she has her baby, and the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC will put its resources to cater for their every need. According to sources in Washington DC, Yuguda will leave on Arik Air on Friday, but it is not clear if he will be returning to his other wives, or to Saudi Arabia, as Bauchi State does not seem to hold any priority for the governor. Meanwhile, officials of the Nigerian government now confirm that Yar’Adua was in “intensive care,” as had earlier been reported by Saharareporters when we detailed how he was unconscious for four hours in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, November 24, a situation which led his aides to spread the word that he had passed on to the great beyond.

Dr. Damages Reporting from Jeddah

The dearth of hard news from Saudi Arabia compelled Zero News Network’s (ZNN) news director, Yusuf Yaya, to send me to Jeddah. Here in Jeddah, I am charged with the task of filing breaking news from the Kingdom on our ailing dear leader, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. We arrived here yesterday and have our satellite set up in front of the magnificent King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre. Kai. If you look behind me, on the sixth floor, you will see the window with the beaming light. That is where our president is recuperating. He has not been watching the English soccer league as was reported by rumor peddles. Instead, the president has been reading the classics, like Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Our source said that the president has been fascinated by the line that says, “The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who in time of great moral crisis remain neutral.” We are also told that the president is reading Homer and Plato and is appreciating the ironies and tragedies of life. When he speaks to the nation (this will happen as soon as the tubes are taken out), he will speak in philosophical terms from the position of wisdom and truth. We understand that he is writing the speech himself. Our source told us that the president found this passage from Usman Dan Fodio’s book THE PURIFICATION OF THE HEART FROM KIBR (Pride) very fascinating: “You own neither your heart nor yourself. You desire something while your destruction may be in it, and you detest something while your life may be in it. You find some foods delicious when they destroy and kill you, and you find remedies repugnant when they help you and save you. You are not safe for a moment, day and night.” As expected, there are several Nigerian government officials loitering around the lobby of this hospital. They carry around big briefcases and big frowned faces. I asked one what was in the briefcase he was carrying. He told me it was Nigeria’s nuclear codes. We tried to get an interview with these officials but they refused. They do not want to appear on camera. I have been told that they were not happy to see us here because it is now hard for them to lie to Nigerians about what is really going on.

Nigerian hospital 'overwhelmed by corpses from police'

A Nigerian hospital has told the BBC it is overwhelmed by the number of corpses being brought to them by police.

The Chief Medical Director at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital in Enugu says his staff are being forced to carry out mass burials.

The BBC has established that at least seven people were last seen alive in police custody, accused of kidnapping.

Enugu State Police Commissioner Mohamed Zarewa told the BBC he was too busy to talk about their case.

Nigeria's police have faced strong criticism from human rights groups for carrying out extrajudicial and arbitrary killings.

Amnesty international is presenting the results of a three-year investigation on Wednesday, in which they will describe the level of police killings as shocking.

The BBC has visited the morgue and taken photographs. The images are disturbing.

They show piles of young men, lying on top of one another and strewn about on tables and floors.

In places the corpses are stacked four or five deep.

Officers killed

Records show 75 corpses were delivered to the morgue by police between June and 26 November this year.

YAR’ADUA; Like Abacha, like Boigny and Mobutu?

We must never be tired of demanding that any government should chasten itself and give us the foundation and the example to propel us forward. We must demand that any government should deal honestly with us and level with us…. We must have accountability and transparency that we are not getting now. If any administration is turning evil we should spare no efforts and no sacrifice to remove it. General Olusegun Obasanjo, Keynote Address to the participants at the Workshop on Nigeria: The State of the Nation and the Way Forward, Arewa House, Kaduna, 1994, p.29

The abrupt, unscheduled Saudi trip and PDP’S reaction to a keen observer of events in the normal discontented salariate can quickly conclude that turbulence and tempests have returned in due course, leaving an intact nomenclature that whenever a President sneezes, the country catches cold. The time has come when the long hidden bloated enduring image of the President’s health is playing itself out distinctly and more transparently.
History is replete with stories of full blown dictatorships which were eventually swept out of power by the collective will and determination of the people. In 1986, people’s power brought down two oppressive and tyrannical regimes; one in Haiti, and the other in Philippines. That year was a sad one for dictators all over the world, and a fruitful one for all lovers of decency and freedom, because the governments of two despots- Baby Dor Duvalier of Haiti and Ferdinand Marcos of Philippines crashed like sack of beans. Dictatorship has been referred to as ‘’power without responsibility’’, and to which James Baldwin noted as ‘’historical and official privilege of prostitutes’’- because the effectiveness only last for the governed, dictators by their very nature are vulnerable, because dictatorship is a confidence trick. However for any trick to be effective, the perception or feeling of the people upon whom the trick is played is crucial. If the people are gullible or credulous and are unable to detect such a fraud when it is unleashed on them, then the trickster becomes unsteadied, more undecided, uncertain than the previous ones and fall becomes inevitable. Such a fall may occur at anytime during this diabolic trip, and it may be soon, as in Liberia, where Samuel Doe’s ludicrous antics paved the way for his eventual waterloo. On the other hand, it may take several years as in Haiti, Zaire, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Philippines, where the people have been brainwashed to believing and accepting that the dynasties or imperial lords in power would be there till eternity, more so that they had plenty of time and acolytes to establish themselves firmly. In the end, they were swept off, like dead cockroaches into the waste bin of history.

Andy Uba in fresh bid to snatch Anambra governorship; he and Iwu fine-tune strategy

Saharareporters has just learned of the political maneuvers by Emmanuel Nnamdi (Andy) Uba to position himself to once again snatch Government House, Awka. Uba, who was enthroned as “governor” after a notoriously fraudulent election in April 2007, was quickly removed from office by an order of the Supreme Court. His numerous efforts to regain his illegally acquired post by bribing judges failed to bear fruit as both the Court of Appeal as well as the Supreme Court denied his petitions. Uba has now entered the field as the governorship candidate of the Labour Party, one of the parties he sponsored during the registration of political parties. Apart from using the Labour Party, Uba’s latest political plot involves the purchase of several parties’ governorship tickets, according to highly knowledgeable sources in his camp as well as within the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). In assuming the ticket of the Labour Party, Uba met INEC’s deadline for political parties to substitute the names of their candidates for the February 6, 2010 gubernatorial election in Anambra. That deadline is tomorrow, Tuesday, December 8 – a day Uba will be unveiled as the candidate of the Labour Party. Our sources disclosed that Andy Uba has not only acquired the ticket of the Labour Party, but that he has doled out huge cash payments to mop up the tickets of several other parties, including that of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). A source within Uba’s inner circle said that the former senior aide on domestic matters to President Olusegun Obasanjo had been quietly buying up numerous marginal political parties as part of a political strategy he fine-tuned with help from INEC chairman Maurice Iwu.Shortly after Uba emerges tomorrow, he will move fast in the coming weeks to stage political campaigns in which crowds will be rented. During these rallies, Uba will give the platform to the candidates of the parties he has purchased to announce their withdrawal from the governorship race and to pledge support for Uba’s ticket. “Professor Iwu has promised Andy that INEC will announce him as the next governor if Chief Uba can create the impression that he’s a popular candidate,” disclosed an INEC source familiar with the details.

Guinea junta arrests 60 for 'trying to kill Camara

Alleged plotters who tried to kill Guinea's junta leader Capt Moussa Dadis Camara are being "hunted down" and arrested, the military government says.

Junta spokesman Idrissa Cherif told the BBC more than 60 people had been held over last week's assassination attempt.

Other reports say troops are torturing and killing people and residents of the capital, Conakry, are living in terror.

Rights groups say Capt Camara, who is recovering after treatment for a bullet wound in the head, should step down.

He was flown to Morocco for surgery after the incident - with conflicting reports on the seriousness of his injuries.

Junta officials say Lt Aboubacar "Toumba" Diakite, head of the presidential guard, carried out the attack on Capt Camara. He has not been caught.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 9 out of 10 detained without charge

On December 1, a total of 25 journalists were imprisoned in Sub-Saharan Africa in retaliation for their journalism, and nearly 90 percent of these journalists were detained without charges in secret detention facilities, according to an annual census of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Countries as wide ranging as Eritrea, Iran, and the United States were on the list of nations who had imprisoned journalists without charge. With at least 19 journalists behind bars, Eritrea by far leads the list of shame of African nations that imprison journalists. Eritrea holds this dubious distinction since 2001when the authorities abruptly closed the private press by arresting at least ten editors without charge or trial. The Eritrean government has refused to confirm if the detainees are still alive, even when unconfirmed online reports suggest that three journalists have died in detention. CPJ continues to list these journalists on its 2009 census as a means of holding the government responsible for their fates. In early 2009, the government arrested at least six more journalists from state media suspected of having provided information to news Web sites based outside the country. Eritrea’s neighbor, Ethiopia ranked second among African nations with journalists in jail. Four journalists were held in Ethiopian prisons, including two Eritrean journalists who are detained in secret locations without any formal charges or legal proceedings since late 2006. The Gambia, with its incommunicado detention of reporter Ebrima Chief Manneh since July 2006, and Cameroon, which has imprisoned the editor of a newspaper since September 2008, completes the list of imprisoned journalists for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Julius Berger and its N5 billion profit declaration

Dear Sir: Julius Berger needs be investigated by the FIRS, if it (FIRS) is serious, because for Julius Berger to announce that it made only N5billion profit for year 2009 cannot be true. Even from (only) the over N150billion it has earned from Akwa Ibom State alone, talk less of other heavier contract-jobs here and there in Nigeria, the construction giant would have made profit of nothing less than N50billion (not only N5billion) it declared.

Julius Berger was recently accused by the National Assembly of exporting Nigeria’s mineral resources through illegal procedure. What the situation is with the matter as at today has disappeared from the public view. Recently, the Federal government was in court with Julius Berger over the company’s importation of contrabands into the country. In the last sitting of the court, Julius Berger feigned ignorance of any litigation against it by the Nigerian government; this sounds insulting and touches the sensibility of Nigerians. Julius Berger, the acclaimed construction giant is not all that giant in Germany, the company’s supposed home-country. At the early stage of constructing Abuja, an international foreign construction magazine had opined that the biggest construction site in the world was traced to the one being owned by Julius Berger in Abuja. The magazine was referring to the volume of space allotted to the company in Abuja and the amount of jobs they were handling at the same time. In spite of the above allegations, the federal government had recently awarded the construction company contract for PDTF headquarters at the cost of N10.5billion. The Government had also signed N33billion for the Ajaokuta-Warri rail line (Daily Independent November 20, 2009, page 3) to the same company she is in court with; company also livid with accusation by the National Assembly and other Nigerians. For Nigerian government officials being corrupt and probably Julius Berger and ilk as conduit pipe for their corrupt funds, one does not need to look to far for why Nigeria could not for these past years create indigenous construction giants by empowering potentials abound. All the so-called foreign construction giants we have in Nigeria were empowered by Nigerian governments as investigation shows they were not ‘giants’ per se originally from their respective home-countries. Obong Steve Udeme, 189 Bende Street, Umuahia, Abia State. uudeme86@yahoo.com

Nigeria's growth leaves elderly behind

Planners of Nigeria's capital city are plotting three new city centers, new railways and a highway.

But there is one group that says it is feeling left out of Lagos' rapid growth and urbanization: the elderly.

One example of this could be seen recently outside the National Railway Corp. office, where a crowd gathered, some using walking-sticks and others on wheelchairs.

The crowd of hundreds accused the corporation of not paying them their pension for 21 months.

"I feel very bad -- I'm not supposed to struggle to get my entitlement," said Henry Oyekan, 71. "Especially all the shoving that is going on."

Gbenga Ibitoye chimed in.

"We will pray for federal government to answer us in time to give us our money," Ibitoye said. "Because people are dying."

Company officials pass out paperwork for the crowd to write down their grievances, but nothing is resolved, some said.

At about the same time, a different group of Lagos seniors took their concerns to the legislature. The nearly 100 elders -- dressed in traditional clothes and head-dresses -- said they made an appointment with the Lagos House Assembly recently.

The group sat in a meeting hall waiting to talk to lawmakers.

"You're making your budget, building your roads but there's no provision for the old people and it upsets me," said Moses Iloh, 80, as he waited for lawmakers to arrive. "Today in Nigeria people have no plans for the aged."

Berlusconi accused by Mafia hitman

Italy’s centre-right government on Friday was rocked by accusations made in court by a Mafia hitman that Silvio Berlusconi had made commitments to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra as he was about to enter politics 15 years ago.

Testifying behind a screen in a high security court in Turin, Gaspare Spatuzza, a Mafia turncoat, claimed he had been told by a top Sicilian mobster in January 2004 that Mr Berlusconi and his long-time business associate, Marcello Dell’Utri, had given “everything” the Mafia had wanted.

“Thanks to the seriousness of these people, they have practically put the country in our hands,” Mr Spatuzza quoted Giuseppe Graviano as saying.

The prime minister’s office rejected the allegations, accusing Mr Spatuzza of seeking to sabotage the government’s crackdown on Cosa Nostra.

In spite of questions over the reliability of Mr Spatuzza, who is serving a life sentence for two murders, and the lack of detail in his accusations, the case is fuelling existing divisions in Mr Berlusconi’s coalition and is likely to exacerbate a war between the prime minister and judges he accuses of waging a political witch-hunt.

Gianfranco Fini, the speaker of parliament who is both an ally and a rival for power, has described Mr Spatuzza’s claims as an “atomic bomb”.

Nigeria President Umaru Yar'Adua urged to stand down

More than 50 Nigerian public figures have called on President Umaru Yar'Adua to resign, saying ill health has impaired his judgement.

Several Nigerian newspapers carried a statement asking him to step down that was signed by senior political figures and democracy activists, among others.

But ministers dismissed the statement, saying there was "no basis" for the president to leave office.

Mr Yar'Adua is currently being treated in Saudi Arabia for a heart problem.

In a statement, Information Minister Dora Akunyili said the cabinet had met and had "unanimously resolved" that the president "has not been found incapable of discharging his functions".

She said: "Council wishes to inform all Nigerians that all organs of government are functioning and that government will continue to deliver."

Prominent Nigerians call on Yar'adua to resign!

Eminent Nigerians today in a press statement asked Umaru Yar’Adua to “immediately and unconditionally hand over to the Vice-President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan to complete the current term of office.” As Acting President, said the 55 signatories who emanate from all over Nigeria, Jonathan should then conduct the next general elections on the basis of the report of the electoral reform committee headed by Justice Mohammed Lawal Uwais.

In the statement, which was made public only a short while ago, the concerned Nigerians offered Yar’Adua the option of resigning his office immediately, arguing that his poor health “has created a dangerous situation whereby no one is in charge of the affairs of the State contrary to the letter and spirit of the Constitution.”

On the other hand, they said that if Yar’Adua is confident of his current health, he should “request the Federal Executive Council to pass a resolution pursuant to Section 144 (1) of the Constitution to the effect that the President appears incapable of discharging the functions of his office.”

They said such an “honorable step” would enable the Senate President to appoint a Medical Panel to confirm the fitness or otherwise of Yar’Adua to continue in office.”

Sympathizing with Yar’Adua’s condition, the signatories said his health should be given priority attention, but stressed that the need to provide effective governance for this nation of over 150 million people cannot be compromised.

Dead or Alive: Frantic efforts to fly Yar'Adua "home" on Wednesday

Efforts by members of Yar’Adua’s kitchen cabinet to return him to Nigeria soon have so far not yielded any results, but sources told Saharareporters this evening that a “political gang” currently in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia vowed that the sickly leader will be flown home on Wednesday at all cost.

Saharareporters can reveal authoritatively that Yar’Adua has not spoken in person with anyone in Nigeria in the last 72 hours. That includes Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Saharareporters sources have confirmed that contrary to his advertised position on national TV last week Thursday, Mr. Jonathan has certainly not spoken to Yar’Adua since he was evacuated to Saudi Arabia on a medical emergency.

What VP Jonathan Goodluck alluded to, as his contact with the president was his conversation with Yar’adua’s State House chief of protocol, Ambassador Abba Abdullahi Tijjani.

A team of politicians led by Kwara State governor, Bukola Saraki; Bauchi State governor, Isah Yuguda; Katsina State governor; Ibrahim Shema and businessman Aliko Dangote are hanging around in Jeddah with the hope of returning with Yar’Adua on Wednesday. That state governors have no problem abandoning their states is proof that the game is loyalty, not service.

Chongqing suspects allege torture by police

Alleged gang bosses have claimed they were tortured by police or detained in illegal jails in order to extract confessions.

The allegations were made as the second wave of gang trials kicked off on Tuesday at the Chongqing No 2 intermediate people's court.

Chen Zhiyi and Deng Yuping, who are alleged to have run a 22-member mafia-style gang, said in court that the gang was not an organized one and they were either extorted into confessing or imprisoned in illegal jails by police.

Along with four other people with suspected connections to the gang, they are charged with 22 crimes including leading or participating in a mafia-style gang, killing three people and running illegal gambling dens.

More than 200 people heard the trial in court, mainly family members of the accused. Another 100 people gathered outside the court gate to hear live broadcast of the case.

"I admitted to the crimes after police from Fengjie county tortured me," said 43-year-old Chen in court yesterday morning.

Somali sea gangs lure investors at pirate lair(Pirate Exchange)

In Somalia's main pirate lair of Haradheere, the sea gangs have set up a cooperative to fund their hijackings offshore, a sort of stock exchange meets criminal syndicate.

Heavily armed pirates from the lawless Horn of Africa nation have terrorized shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean and strategic Gulf of Aden, which links Europe to Asia through the Red Sea.

The gangs have made tens of millions of dollars from ransoms and a deployment by foreign navies in the area has only appeared to drive the attackers to hunt further from shore.

It is a lucrative business that has drawn financiers from the Somali diaspora and other nations -- and now the gangs in Haradheere have set up an exchange to manage their investments.

One wealthy former pirate named Mohammed took Reuters around the small facility and said it had proved to be an important way for the pirates to win support from the local community for their operations, despite the dangers involved.