More Pirates Plead Guilty In Yacht Hijacking
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- Another pair of Somali men pleaded guilty to piracy on Wednesday for their roles in the hijacking of a yacht off Africa that left four Americans dead, with one of the pirates saying he tried to immobilize one of the gunmen once the shooting started aboard the boat.
Ahmed Sala Ali Burale, 22, and Muhidin Salad Omar, 30, pleaded guilty in federal court as part of an agreement that could result in them serving less than life in prison, the mandatory sentence.
The nine men who have entered guilty pleas in the case so far face sentencing in August, September and October. A tenth man is also expected to enter a guilty plea on Thursday.
Prosecutors said they don't believe any of the men who have pleaded guilty shot the Americans aboard the Quest, adding each is expected to cooperate with authorities as part of a plea deal that could ultimately see them deported back to Somalia.
"Today, Burale and Omar admitted they became pirates of their own free will and that their co-conspirators gunned down the four American hostages while others were attempting to negotiate with the U.S. military," U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement. "These men and others have learned that pirating an American vessel is a dangerous business with serious, long-term consequences."
That's because the government wants their cooperation for any future charges in this and possibly other cases.
Court documents have named three Somali men as those who shot the Americans, and none of them have plea deals scheduled. In all, 14 Somalis and 1 Yemeni were charged in connection with the case, including a land-based negotiator who never boarded the yacht. Four others who were aboard the Quest at the time of the hijacking were killed and a juvenile was released by American authorities after being captured by the US Navy.
The owners of the Quest, Jean and Scott Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif., along with friends Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay of Seattle, were shot to death several days after being taken hostage several hundred miles south of Oman.
The Adams had been sailing full-time on their 58-foot yacht since December 2004 after retiring. Around Christmas, the Quest joined the Blue Water Rally, an around-the-world race. But race organizers said the Americans had left the race before the hijacking.
The Americans were being held at gunpoint by seven men in a steering wheel house when shots were fired, records show.
Court documents say Burale was near the glass around the hatch at the top of the boat when the shooting began.
Burale signed a statement saying he rushed downstairs with another person to try to stop two of the men from shooting. Burale said he rushed toward Ahmed Muse Salad, grabbed his rifle and pushed the barrel upward to immobilize him. Salad has been identified as one of the shooters in previous records.
"I didn't tell anybody to shoot and I did not shoot myself," Burale said through an interpreter in court. "Yes. I am pirate. But I did not kill anyone."
Court documents say Omar was approached to join the band of pirates because they needed a pilot for the skiff, which was used to try board boats where the passengers could be held for ransom.
Records show the Quest was boarded from a skiff while the Americans were asleep.
A statement of facts signed by Omar said that while he was aboard a US Navy ship that was trying to negotiate the hostages' release, the commanding officer told him the US government doesn't pay money. But the officer told Omar and another pirate aboard the ship doing the negotiating on their behalf that if they released the hostages that they could keep their yacht. Omar said the pirates wanted to reach Somali waters so they could get their own interpreter to reach some kind of an agreement.
Mohamud Salad Ali, who was aboard the US ship and serving as a pirate leader at the time of the shooting, said in a previous document that they didn't want to give up the Americans because they didn't believe they would get the kind of money they were looking for by just selling the boat.
Pirates typically seek millions of dollars in ransom money and one of the 19 men who boarded the Quest said he believed his share would be between $70,000 and $80,000.
Other court records showed the men on board the Quest planned to split 65 percent of the ransom money among themselves and with the interpreter. An unnamed financier was supposed to get 35 percent of the ransom, according to records.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
