From an entrepreneur in the Middle East:
The financiers are the most important since they organize and plan the big shot operations and are able to pay running cost[s]. Financiers always need to forge deals with traders, land cruiser owners, translators, business people to keep the supplies flowing during operations and manage the logistics. There is a long supply chain involved in every hijacking.
Hijacking? What kind of new finance biz lingo is this? This guy sounds like a wannabe Somali pirate or something. What kind of business is he in, anyway?
Hostages — especially Westerners — are our only assets, so we try our best to avoid killing them. It only comes to that if they refuse to contact the ship’s owners or agencies. Or if they attack us and we need to defend ourselves.
Oh.