The $50mn business

How the heck does a country so poor as Somalia manage to create a highly profitable new industry ?
Using its only strategic advantage - location. Its place in the Cape of Horn helps it target all sorts of ships passing through the area . Last reported they have managed a $50mn profit by holding up over 45 ships including a Japanese cargo ship , a Thai fishing vessel , a Chinese super-sized cargo ship , a Saudi oil tanker and a Russian ship full of nuclear powered tanks .
The modus operandi is pretty simple - small 10-15 member fishing boats surround ships and take them hostage .The US naval commander in the area commends the efforts of these pirates while Indian media is giving it good coverage .
I remembered the movie 'Black hawk dawn ' on the covert CIA operation to take a Somalian warlord hostage starring Mr 'deadpan' Eric Bana . Piracy on high seas is probably just another way for the warlords in this poorest of poor countries to fund its forever war with neighbour Ethiopia .
In these days when most companies are pleading with their governments to bail them out , here's an outstanding example of a bunch of guys who have decided to fund themselves .
Damn poverty .