Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World's Most Secretive Industry

by Matthew Campbell

Vergos told Plakakis and the others that he’d found a solution. The “pirates,” he said, would be men from the Yemeni Coast Guard, sourced by Nashwan. Plakakis had learned enough about Yemen not to be shocked by the idea of employing agents of the state for a bit of unconventional freelance work. Set up in the aftermath of 9/11, as President Saleh attempted to ingratiate himself with the US, the YCG was supposed to be a government showpiece, a capable counterterrorism force that would secure a nearly two-thousand-kilometer coastline. Eager to build the service’s capacity, the US government had provided it with more than a dozen patrol boats, and American naval experts trained its sailors. It received about $30 million of Pentagon funding in 2009 alone.