IT has been a busy and profitable past week for Somali pirates — they hijacked a South Korean bulk carrier last Wednesday, released another South Korean cargo ship the next day, and let a hijacked Thai ship go on Saturday after getting a ransom.

Pirates holding an arms-laden tanker off the coast of Somalia have threatened to blow up the ship in three days if no ransom is paid, a spokesman said today.

Pirates holding a hijacked arms ship today insisted they would not release it for less than $20m (€14.4m) and warned they would repel any commando-style rescue attempts.

A HEAVILY armed US destroyer was stationed off the coast of Somalia yesterday, making sure pirates there don’t remove tanks, ammunition and other heavy weapons from a hijacked Ukrainian cargo ship.