In the final part of the series Ross heads off to south east Asia to investigate & meet less high-tech pirates who use skill & cunning rather than fire power. One of the most impressive things about these pirates is they don’t even use modern day ladders to board the ships, they use bamboo. Ross is taken to an island where the pirates quickly demonstrate how with a long piece of bamboo they can easily scale even the highest of ships. When they board a ship they immediately cut off the ships communications & apprehend the crew using only a few rusty old machetes. Unlike the pirates of Somalia these Asian pirates generally take good care of the crew using violence as a last resort they even make sure they are fed. That said they are still criminals & are costing shipping companies & mariners millions of dollars a year. They mostly go for cash & electronic equipment but also claim to hijack ships to claim insurance for the ships owner. Most of the pirates hit up to 10 ships a night & make up to 30,000 dollars which they either gamble it away or use it to buy drugs & prostitutes.
Like in past episodes Ross joins a team of special forces this time around it’s the Malaysian maritime enforcement agency (MMEA), this group are authorized to take a stronger grip on the pirate situation having much more freedom than the other special forces groups. Unlike the other episodes Ross has a lot more luck meeting & interviewing pirates, he even gets to interview the wife of a pirate who tells how dangerous her husbands life is. Its clear that piracy is the number one threat in south east Asia but the pirates themselves are not as dangerous as the pirates of Somalia, as the series wrapped up piracy in Somali reached an all time high making it the number one hot spot for piracy in the world. Before watching the series it was easy to picture a pirate as the ever charming jack sparrow but today’s pirates are no where near that . They use extreme violence & heavy weaponry such as assault rifles & rocket propelled grenades to terrorize the high seas.
The cause of piracy seems to be the same across the board, poor people from a corrupt country turning to a life of violence because they have no other means to support themselves however it doesn’t excuse the fact they kill many people & keep others hostage for months. Modern day piracy generates millions perhaps billions in funds for the pirates so as long as there is a huge gain to be had it wont stop anytime soon. Many people didn’t like the series Ross did in Afghanistan & I have to say I didn’t like it that much either but with this latest series he has more than more than made up for it, at three episodes in total “in search of pirates” is both compelling & entertaining television & I would recommend it to anyone, if of course you missed it on TV the DVD will be released July 20th.
Like in past episodes Ross joins a team of special forces this time around it’s the Malaysian maritime enforcement agency (MMEA), this group are authorized to take a stronger grip on the pirate situation having much more freedom than the other special forces groups. Unlike the other episodes Ross has a lot more luck meeting & interviewing pirates, he even gets to interview the wife of a pirate who tells how dangerous her husbands life is. Its clear that piracy is the number one threat in south east Asia but the pirates themselves are not as dangerous as the pirates of Somalia, as the series wrapped up piracy in Somali reached an all time high making it the number one hot spot for piracy in the world. Before watching the series it was easy to picture a pirate as the ever charming jack sparrow but today’s pirates are no where near that . They use extreme violence & heavy weaponry such as assault rifles & rocket propelled grenades to terrorize the high seas.
The cause of piracy seems to be the same across the board, poor people from a corrupt country turning to a life of violence because they have no other means to support themselves however it doesn’t excuse the fact they kill many people & keep others hostage for months. Modern day piracy generates millions perhaps billions in funds for the pirates so as long as there is a huge gain to be had it wont stop anytime soon. Many people didn’t like the series Ross did in Afghanistan & I have to say I didn’t like it that much either but with this latest series he has more than more than made up for it, at three episodes in total “in search of pirates” is both compelling & entertaining television & I would recommend it to anyone, if of course you missed it on TV the DVD will be released July 20th.
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