"But the real concern is not so much the vulnerability of merchant ships as it is their use by terrorist groups. Osama bin Laden is said to own or control up to twenty aging freighters--a fleet dubbed the 'al Qaeda Navy' by the tabloids. To skeptics who wonder why bin Laden would want to own so many freighters, the explanation quite simply is that he and his associates are in the shipping business. Given his need for anonymity, this makes perfect sense--and it reflects as much on the shipping industry as on al Qaeda that the details remain murky."
Langewiesche is in the business of transparency. As this quotation demonstrates, he is more interested in informing his readers than in dazzling them. He reveals how pressing and significant a concern trade with terrorists has become because the shipping industry allows for a great deal of anonymity.
"The common practice if such a ship comes, you shoo her away. Otherwise you don't know what to do with her. The question of jurisdiction comes up everywhere."
The jurisdiction referenced here is between multiple countries. When a ship docks in Mumbai full of pirates from Indonesia, the Mumbai police are inclined to turn the ship right around and avoid the messy problem. At the same time Indonesia might deny the pirates any affiliation with their country either, thus allowing them to go free and continue their barbarous practices. The affair of jurisdiction becomes a complicated game of who's responsible for who.
"Here is a ship with fifteen of the accused in it. They're caught. They've got a property which is hot. It's proved beyond doubt that the vessel is the Alondra Rainbow. The master's evidence establishes that he was deprived of possession and control. Once that has happened, it is for the accused to show how they came into possession of that ship. And if they don't show it, then the presumption of the law is that they are the ones who hijacked it. And no attempt was made to look into this aspect at all."
The prosecuting attorney in the case of the Alondra Rainbow repeats the facts of the case as if they are so condemning at face value not to need any additional argument. There is no proof that the men aboard were the rightful owners of the ship. The burden of proof clearly remains with the accused, in this specific case with the pirates who commandeered the ship to prove that they rightfully took possession.
"The al Qaeda ships are believed to have carried cement and sesame seeds, among other legitimate cargoes. In 1998 one of them delivered the explosives to Africa that were used to bomb the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. But immediately before and afterward it was an ordinary merchant ship, going about ordinary business. As a result, that ship has never been found. Nor have any of the others.”
Langewiesche explains in this excerpt how malleable sea travel can be. While a ship may carry legitimate cargo one day, on its next voyage it may be used to transport weapons or other illicit cargo. This makes tracking down illegal trade extremely difficult, making ships an ideal method of exchange for terrorists and criminals alike.
