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Chapter 504: The New Contestant Arrives! (First Update!)

When the middle-aged man asked this question, the others also wore expressions that were hard to describe.

This was their first time being pirates. Their main purpose in raiding was to train their troops, and the only secondary purpose was to raise funds.

To secure sufficient funding, they needed to choose a suitable target. To this end, they even hired a group of renowned instructors from Somalia to provide them with one-on-one training.

Thanks to these renowned teachers, they were also able to figure out the differences between these cargo ships.

The highest priority is container ships, which are standardized containers that are efficient in loading and unloading and are suitable for industrial products, electronic products, and daily necessities.

The goods carried are generally of high value, and if it is an ultra-large container ship, the value of the goods carried will be even higher.

Secondly, there are roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) ships and vehicle carriers. These types of ships are used to transport vehicles, construction machinery, and other rolling cargo. Each vehicle costs hundreds of thousands of yuan, and a single Ro-Ro ship can carry hundreds of thousands or even thousands of vehicles. A single ship can transport goods worth hundreds of millions of yuan.

And it's easy to handle.

For these two types of ships, the shipowners are the most willing to pay up after being hijacked.

Then there are oil tankers, natural gas carriers, and bulk carriers.

As for the remaining bulk carriers, multipurpose vessels, and refrigerated ships, there are a large number of them, but shipowners are not very willing to pay for them.

After learning from Somali pirates, they carefully selected this roll-on/roll-off ship flying the Maltese flag at sea.

Once they selected their target, they launched their attack. They loaded a small boat with vegetables and fruits, and a few women. Those lust-driven guys easily put these trained women on board.

And that was it.

They successfully captured the ship.

They also successfully docked the ship on the Yemeni coast.

The problem is, this is clearly a roll-on/roll-off ship, so why are there weapons and ammunition on board?

He noticed that everyone else present was confused. The middle-aged man who had asked the question first bit his tongue, and in an instant, blood gushed out and gushed into his mouth. The strong taste of rust brought him back to his senses.

If there is ammunition on a roll-on/roll-off (Ro-Ro) ship, then there is something wrong with the ship.

If they hadn't hijacked the ship, it wouldn't have mattered. But now that they have, it means they've made enemies of the people behind the ship.

In the end, one side will definitely suffer.

As a living person, he doesn't want to suffer misfortune himself, so the only ones who can suffer misfortune are others.

Swallowing the blood in his mouth, the middle-aged man turned to look at the burly man on his left:

"Sedaya, go and bring the captain of this ship over and ask him what's going on with these weapons and ammunition."

"Bruder, go check the ship's information, find out where it came from, which ports it stopped at along the way, and which ports it needs to stop at next. After you find out, cooperate with Sadaya to re-interrogate the crew members on board."

“They can’t possibly be unaware of this. Also, contact the Iranians again, but don’t tell them there are weapons and ammunition on the ship. Just ask them how we should contact the ship’s owner.”

"Everyone else, do everything you can to move this batch of ammunition down here as quickly as possible."

"Find a place to hide."

"Be quick. If all else fails, just throw it into the sea."

No sooner had the middle-aged man finished giving his instructions than Sedaya, standing to the side, asked with a worried expression, "Bylehas, I think..."

Before he could finish speaking, Bailerhaas interrupted him:
“Sedaya, you don’t need to think right now. What you need to do now is obey orders. If you have any questions, after you have completed the orders and returned to shore, I will explain to you once it is safe to do so.”

Having said that, Barlerhas turned around and looked at the others present:
"The same goes for you. Keep any questions you have. I will explain to you once we reach the shore and a safe place."

"What you need to do now is to carry out orders while ensuring your own safety."

After saying this, Bailerhas was the first to walk towards the ammunition boxes. He bent down, reached out his claws at the nearest ammunition box, and pulled hard, but couldn't budge it.

But his old back snapped as it was pulled.

He quickly clutched his back, turned around, and shouted to the people nearby, "Help!"

This shout successfully brought the others back to their senses. Apart from Sedaya and Bruder, who had just been called out, the others stepped forward to help carry the ammunition boxes.

Sedaya and Bruder, who remained where they were, exchanged a glance upon seeing this scene, then turned around and called the others to carry out the orders.

At a stairwell, Sedaya and Bruder each led their own men and separated. Sedaya went up the stairs into the cabin, while Bruder continued along the passageway to the captain's cabin to check information.

Entering the cabin, Sedaya looked at the group of crew members who were bound hand and foot and laid on the floor. He pulled a notebook from his pocket and asked in broken English:

"Who is the captain? Does he speak Arabic? Tell me, and we might consider letting you go to negotiate the ransom."

As soon as these words were spoken, a burly man in his forties in the crowd was overjoyed, while the others looked ashen-faced.

Seeing the overjoyed burly man, Sedaya smiled and waved, beckoning him to come closer. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, he put his arm around the burly man's shoulder and pushed him out of the cabin.

Once the hatch behind him closed, he kicked the burly man to the ground, then grabbed him by the collar and forcibly dragged him into another room in the corridor.

Even a fool would know something was wrong after this series of actions. The burly man wasn't stupid; he knew he'd been tricked. He instinctively dropped to the ground and quickly begged for mercy in Arabic:
"I'll cooperate, I'll cooperate to get the ransom. As long as you don't beat me up or kill me, I'll do whatever you want."

Amidst his pleas for mercy, Sedaya squinted and slowly squatted down, reaching out to grab the burly man's collar and gently pulling his face close to hers.

"You can speak Arabic? You were pretending to be dead when you were speaking English to us at first, weren't you?"

"I only have one question for you now: what's the deal with those ammunition boxes in area 16?"

"I'm asking you now because I need you, I need you to tell me the answer."

"In a little while, once my men have figured out where this batch of ammunition came from, you'll be dead no matter what."

The word "ammunition" made the captain, who was kneeling on the ground, pause in surprise. He rolled his eyes, then kowtowed to the ground.
"I don't know, I really don't know."

“I was at the hotel until the ship left the port. I was only responsible for signing documents and checking the cargo. Other people did those things. I really didn’t know anything about it.”

"That's it!" The captain suddenly looked up, his eyes sparkling, and pointed to the cabin door: "It must have been those guys, the first mate, who secretly loaded this cargo onto the ship without my knowledge."

"It must be so!"

As he spoke, the captain kowtowed. The cabin floor was made of soft plastic, but the captain still managed to kowtow until his head was bleeding in just a few seconds.

Seeing his blood-covered face, Sedaya lost interest in continuing the interrogation and tilted his head at the person next to him:
"Tie him up and restrain him so he doesn't have a chance to commit suicide."

After giving his orders, he got up and went out. The men next to him stepped forward and hurriedly tied the ropes they had just found around the captain's body, binding him up like a dumpling.

Sedaya returned with his men to the cabin where the prisoners were held, grinning broadly.
"Who is the first mate? Your captain said you did something good, come out here!"

On the other side, the command post.

Brood struggled to find the ship's logbook, pulled a notebook from his pocket, and carefully checked the dates against the words written in the logbook. Soon, he found the ship's point of departure—South Korea.

The next stop was Singapore, then Mumbai, India, and the stop after that was a name he was very familiar with.

Haifa, Israel.

After Haifa, Israel, comes Marseille, France.

Marseille was also the last port of call for this ship.

After verifying these points, Brood took out a pen and paper, wrote down the names of several cities along the route, stuffed them into his pocket, then took a rudimentary satellite phone from his teammate, went up to the deck, and began calling the Iranians.

After calling for five or six minutes, the satellite phone finally picked up a voice:

"Bylehaas, how's the situation?"

“Mr. Hadrasan, this is Brude. We have brought the ship under control in the bay southwest of Mukalla.”

"Now, how do we contact the ship owner?"

"And ask him for a ransom?"

Upon hearing that the hijacking was successful, Hadrasan on the other end of the phone burst into laughter. Amidst the laughter, he asked with a smile:

"How are you? Are you tired?"

"Did you find anything good on the ship? These cargo ships often help special guests transport special items."

"You can look for it."

“These things can’t be brought to light; you might just make a fortune from them.”

"We didn't find anything!" Brood replied dejectedly. "It's all cars, but we can't use them, so we can only look at them."

After he finished speaking, the person on the other end of the phone gasped in surprise, then lowered their voice and said:
"Find the captain of this ship, then have him make the call; he knows what to say."

"By the way, you need to separate the people and the ship as soon as possible, especially the crew on this ship."

"It would be best to shoot some videos and post them on social media."

"Okay, I'm hanging up now!"

The satellite phone call ended. Brood held the phone, remained silent for two seconds, then handed it to his teammate. Holding the information he had just recorded, he walked through the passageway, entered the cabin, and found Sedaya.

At this moment, after a series of interrogations, Sedaya successfully captured the "mastermind" behind the scenes, the ship's cook.

After understanding why Sedaya had called him out, the cook looked bewildered and muttered to himself, "Even if I make them galaxy pies every day, they wouldn't go this far to frame me!"

Bruder's arrival saved the cook.

He pushed the cook aside and took out the words he had just written down:
"Next stop: Haifa, Israel!"

"And the next stop is Marseille, France!"

Sedaya wasn't stupid to be assigned to the interrogation work. He glanced at the slip of paper with the city's name on it, then looked up:
"France has its own weapons and ammunition production system. Many of the weapons and ammunition in Africa come from them. They have always been exporting them and there is no need for them to import them."

"So this batch of weapons and ammunition was ordered by the Israelis?"

“I guessed so!” Brud nodded, agreeing with Sedaya’s guess.

Sedaya was having a headache figuring out who ordered the ammunition. Holding the note, he went to the captain, and this time, there was no unnecessary talk.

He cocked the old pistol in his hand, which looked like it had been used for ages, and pressed the muzzle against the captain's head: "Weapons and ammunition ordered by the Israelis?"

Upon hearing this, the captain knew the mission was doomed.

Just as he was about to speak, Sedaya pulled the trigger.

boom!
After killing the captain, Sedaya was about to kill the others when Brud stopped her before she could even leave the house.
"Stop wasting time, hurry up and move the weapons and ammunition."

"But……"

“No buts!” Bruder’s tone turned serious. “We need the money to buy weapons and ammunition, and now that we have this batch of weapons and ammunition, we can save ourselves the trouble of dealing with middlemen.”

"Go quickly!"

"If this batch of ammunition was indeed ordered by Israel, they should have already completed their investigation and are ready to take action."

"Our safe time is very short."

"Go quickly!"

Persuaded, Sedaya unloaded the bullet, tucked the gun back into his belt, and followed Bruder toward the ammunition storage compartment.

While they were interrogating, about 20% of the ammunition had been moved, leaving about 80% remaining.

Upon seeing Bailerhas, Brudra led him to a corner and whispered:

"That Hadrasan guy, after I called him, he went straight to asking us if we had found anything interesting on the ship."

Bailerhaas grasped the key point, squinting his eyes:

"So the information they provided was problematic?"

"Correct!"

“Damn it, these Iranians are really…” Byahs’s voice grew softer and softer until finally he rested his chin on his hand and fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he finally looked up and asked, "What did you say?"

“I said there are only cars here, and there’s no point in bringing them here.”

"Well done!" Bailerhas exclaimed encouragingly, then turned and gave another order:

"Try to contact the leader now and tell him about this."

"Also tell him not to let anyone know about this before we get back."

“Understood!” Brud nodded, turned and walked out of the cabin to contact their leader.

Meanwhile, Bailerhaz returned to the ammunition box and frantically moved ammunition around.

They moved happily. 80 kilometers southeast of Saudi Arabia, at the Prince Sultan Air Force Base, an MQ-9 Reaper drone took off from the base and flew straight south to the sea, more than 1000 kilometers away.

At Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Staff Officer Parker also handed a document to Benjamin:
"General, this is the list of ammunition the Israelis purchased from South Korea. Please take a look."

(End of this chapter)