We’ve heard a lot about Somali pirates over the last several months, but mostly they’ve been laughed off as people imagine bearded guys with striped bloomers, gold teeth, and swords running around on sailboats screaming “Argh!” They may in fact be yelling “Argh,” but they wield AK-47s, not swords. Now a University of Maryland professor, Jana Shakarian is claiming that the pirates are in cahoots with Islamic terrorists.

Wired reports:

The last three months have seen a huge spike in pirate attacks off the Somali coast. This week alone, pirates wielding AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades seized four ships, including a tanker carrying $100 million in crude oil, bringing to around 90 the number of ships attacked this year.

It gets worse, according to University of Maryland researcher Jana Shakarian. She claims that pirates have begun cooperating with the Islamic extremists who dominate much of southern Somalia. "Terrorists," the university's press release calls them.

[Extremist group] Al Shabab seems to profit from the piracy business, engaging in some kind of weapons trade with the pirates, providing them "safe havens" and of course money.

Contrast this to the claims of many pirates themselves. When pirates seized a Ukrainian vessel loaded with armored vehicles and other weapons, a pirate spokesman assured a reporter that they had no intention of even offloading the arms. "We just want the money," Sugule Ali told The New York Times.

The Somali pirates hardly need to want more than money to work in tandem with extremists, and similarly they hardly need to cooperate with Islamic terrorists to be considered terrorists themselves. This week they have captured a Saudi super-tanker and are demanding $125 million in ransom, but Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has opposed any negotiation with the pirates. Unfortunately, beggars can’t be chosers, and when you’ve lost $100 million worth of oil to pirates, you’re officially a beggar.