Somalia pardons six foreigners over illegal ransoms for pirates

SOMALIA has pardoned six foreigners convicted of illegally carrying millions of dollars into the country with the intention of paying pirate ransoms, a government spokesman and presidency officials said.

Somali authorities detained three Britons, an America and two Kenyans late last month, impounding their two aircraft and $3.6 million in cash.

“Considering the humanitarian situation, the Somali President pardoned the six foreigners,” government spokesman Abdirahman Osman Yarisow told Reuters on Sunday, adding that the ransom money the men were carrying would be kept.