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Regardless of what the official line may be, the MV Abdullah hijacking incident has been widely reported internationally and the conclusion is that a US$ 5.0 million ransom had been paid for the safe release of the crew and the ship. Notwithstanding the horrifying trauma experienced by all those on board the ship, one wonders what has been achieved by making denials to the contrary that a king's ransom has been paid to the pirates. The Somali pirates have been very successful over the decades to take full advantage of taking hostage ships belonging to those countries that do not have their own naval forces to protect them or are perceived to be easier prey.
Reportedly, the pirates held up their part of the bargain on release of both ship and crew on payment of the stated sum of money on successful completion of negotiations. While the owners of the vessels remain mum on the issue and an official statement by the minister of the ministry concerned categorically denied having paid anything, such denials will have little impact either on Somali pirates or continued danger of future hijacking of Bangladeshi vessels.
Bangladeshi merchant ship owners and the country would really benefit if arrangements were made to beef up security on ships as a deterrence to hijacking. That time has arrived and merely attempting to brush the incident under the carpet stating that what was in the aftermath of the hijacking was some slick camerawork and editing to make the country look bad, is akin to sticking one's head in the sand hoping the danger will pass. Rather, it is time to take proactive measures to make our ships much tougher to hijack in the first place - a move like that would safeguard the nation's maritime interests more constructively.
There are several ways to do this. One would be to make arrangements with friendly nations that do have military assets in the area, i.e. naval presence including ships, helicopters, marines that are part of the international rapid response team specifically deployed to counter Somali pirates. That would require bilateral / multilateral arrangements between or among states. While this is an arrangement that works some of the time, the ocean being vast and different vessels belonging to various nations ply the seas on different sea routes, it is difficult to provide blanket security to individual vessels.
Some merchant ship companies have taken things into their own hands. Sea-going vessels have been retrofitted with defensive kits to make it overly difficult for pirates to throw grappling hooks onboard so they can climb onboard. There are now specialized companies that will install all sorts of equipment ranging from non-lethal high-powered water jets to physically deter people from boarding, to physical barriers that will make it that much harder for any unauthorised personnel from climbing on board.
The third option has proven to be the most effective, i.e. having armed personnel on board with machine guns. Now, Bangladesh has its own armed forces whose members can be retrained to face such crises on the high seas. Small teams can be made available for deployment on merchant ships. Naturally this will entail a cost for maintenance of personnel and their upkeep. But the cost will be a pittance when compared to the ransom demanded by pirates. This option should definitely be explored by both policymakers and the merchant companies because at the end of the day, it makes sense for Bangladesh to use its own resources to defend the sea lanes on which it is heavily dependent for trade and commerce.