Bandit Bourse? Somali pirates hijack oil tanker, organize 'stock market'

Somali pirates have seized a U.S.-bound tanker carrying $20 million worth of crude oil and taken it to a pirate harbor along the barren desert coast of central Somalia in one of the most audacious pirate strikes ever, U.S. naval officials said.

"She's a big ol' girl, almost a quarter million tons. They're not speedy, they sit low in the water ... so a determined pirate like this one can be successful," Rear Adm. Peter Hudson said in Kenya on Tuesday, according to the AP. Hudson said it was the second-largest ship ever hijacked by pirates. The tanker's 30-member crew was also kidnapped. The stunning seaborne heist comes as Somali pirate gangs have set up a kind of stock exchange to fund their banditry, according to an extraordinary report from Reuters.