The Modern Blackbeard.(International Edition; THE LAST WORD)(Shamun Indhabur)(Interview)

Last September, Somali pirates captured a Ukrainian cargo ship, the MV Faina, loaded to the gunnels with heavy weapons, including 33 battle tanks. Ever since, U.S. and Russian naval vessels have been shadowing the Faina, now the most prominent symbol of this unexpected return of a 19th-century scourge, pirates. In December, the Faina's owners reportedly agreed on ransom terms, but the ship and its crew are still being held. NEWSWEEK's Rod Nordland spoke to Shamun Indhabur, who Somali officials say is the leader of the pirates who took the Faina, as well as a Saudi supertanker carrying $100 million worth of oil. The interview was conducted by satellite phone from the bridge of the Faina through a Somali translator, Abukar al-Badri. Excerpts:

NORDLAND: Tell us what your background is, and how you captured the Faina.

INDHABUR: I was a fisherman before I turned to piracy, a crew member of a small fishing boat. We used to capture lobsters and sharks. We hijacked Faina in the early morning of Sept. 24, in Somali waters. We took it after 60 minutes of fighting. The captain decided to surrender after we fired some rockets to warn them that we were close to destroying the ship if they didn't surrender.

What's the situation onboard the Faina now?

The middlemen tried to corruptly steal some of the [ransom] money [estimated at more than $3 million].

How are your ransoms paid?

We get the money two ways: a boat takes the money from Djibouti, then a helicopter takes the money from the boat, then it drops the money in waterproof cartons on assigned [small] boats. Then we collect it, check if it is false or not, then we release the ship. The other way we get the money is a boat from Mombasa.