Saudi-owned crude oil supertanker Sirius Star is seen during its naming ceremony in South Korea in this undated handout picture released on June 18, 2008 and obtained by Reuters on Nov. 18, 2008.

BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Despite the fact that the U.S. Fifth Fleet is patrolling the area and NATO is also present, why is it that the world cannot control the rampant piracy near the coast of Somalia?

The real problem, according to Commodore C Uday Bhaskar, an Indian expert, is that there is no international coordination among the naval powers that are patrolling the area.

A second problem was the "very lawless nature" of Somalia itself, where the state has receded to becoming almost absent. Until the international community joins forces to rebuild a semblance of a state, piracy will continue unabated, the experty said.

Third, and more dangerous, is the attractiveness of lawless regions like Somalia for terror groups like al-Qaida, which is currently sponsoring an insurgency in Somalia. It's not a huge leap of faith to imagine that al-Qaida could soon be running these profitable piracy operations from these coasts, said B Raman, a terrorism analyst.

The lawless nature of Somalia means that operations on sea cannot be backed by land operations against the pirates, the security experts believe. The pirates can carry out their attacks on sea and disappear on land to reappear again. So, they said, the only way to control these pirates is to overrun their land bases.

But this would not happen unless the main countries with navies in the region pool their forces together. Until the capture of the Saudi-owned supertanker "Sirius Star," even Saudi Arabia was "lukewarm" to the entire phenomenon.

India too awoke after a Japanese vessel with Indian crew was taken some time back. Instead, international shipping corporations are circling the Cape of Good Hope, in order to escape the pirates, adding another 4,000 km to their journeys.

The International Maritime Bureau reported that at least 83 ships have been attacked in the shipping lanes near Somalia since January 2008. Of these, 33 were hijacked. Twelve of these ships, with a total of 250 crew members, are still in the custody of Somali pirates. In fact, since "Sirius Star," the pirates have captured three more vessels.

Last but not least, Somali pirates are soundly equipped and quite sly.

Operating skiffs with powerful outboard engines, GPS systems and satellite phones, the Somali pirates who seized a Saudi supertanker have left officials open-mouthed in astonishment at their audacity.

"Both the size of the vessel and the distance from the coast where the hijackers struck is unprecedented," Commander Jane Campbell, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, is quoted in the Guardian as saying. "It shows how quickly the pirates are adapting."