Piracy in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean can be wildly profitable and is relatively risk free.   If a pirate is caught by any of the multinational naval task force, chances are that they will simply let the pirate go free.   So I suppose it isn’t surprising that that not only has the scope of piracy expanded to encompass the Indian Oceans and Arabia Sea, but now it also appears that the pool of pirates is also becoming multi-national.  In addition to Somalis,  Yemenis are also getting into the act.

Red Sea piracy may be going multinational – U.S.

Piracy in the Red Sea may be becoming a “multinational” business with Yemenis joining Somalis in the lucrative crime, a senior U.S. official said on Monday.

“We are also seeing … perhaps a new business model occurring in the Red Sea and things that we have traditionally labelled exclusively Somali piracy may in fact be multinational piracy,” the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Johnnie Carson, said.

Pirates involved in last month’s killing of four American hostages on a yacht seized near Somalia were both Somalis and Yemenis, while Yemenis were on board a pirate ship recently captured by a Danish warship, he said.

“We may be seeing a situation, as yet unconfirmed, where we have individuals from several nations on the periphery, from states that are not governed well … being involved in piracy,” Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Carson told reporters in London.

Yemen and Somalia are both riven by poverty and instability and are bases for militant groups.