SHAH TURNS PIRATE KING

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 124, 12 October 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

SHAH TURNS PIRATE KING

.-IiSO.UOO REWARD FOR HIS HEAD.

Mohammed Ali Mirza, who .succeeded his father, Muzatfar-ed-din, as Shah of Persia in 11)07, and was deposed in 1909, has become a pirate king upon the Caspian Sea. The Medjlis (Parliament) at Teheran offers £50,000 head money for him, dead or alive. At the present moment he is occupying an impregnable position on the coast to which ,he recently returned from a cruise with two .vessels laden with priceless booty. He has in his command two hundred desperadoes fully equipped and eager for prey. In company with his uncle Malik and his brother Itczard, the former Shah recently captured personally a party of Persians. For one of them, a noble, he exacted a ransom of £50,000. The others were burned alive. Despairing of receiving any financial assistance from the Government, Mohammed Ali accepted from Kniaz Lianzoff, the "Fish King," an immensely rich man of barbaric tastes, the offer of a fleet of boats commanded by a widely known pirate named Ismail Bey, whom every sailor and fisherman in the Caspian region fears more than death, so terribly does he torture those who cross his path. Among these pirates the deposed Shah has set up a regular court, his ministers and associates being robbers who have spread terror in the Caucasus for years.

His so-called Minister of the Interior is a robber named Baurbek Boroff, formerly a Russian police spy who was condemned to hard labor for robbery under arms. He fled to Mohamnied's court, and the police are not likely to get him easily, as the part of the coast frequented by this pirate band is infested with freebooters, who are formidable antagonists. This man Boroff wears a Persian uniform and covers himself with medals given to him by the ex-Shah. Another man high in favor at this strange court is Boroff's brother, an equally desperate character. The Cabinet is formed of people of the same calibre, but the portfolio of Minister for Finance has not been assigned. Mohammed Ali looks after that department himself.

Unless Persia gives Mohammed enough money to live comfortably he doubtless will stay where he is, for he claims to be quite happy, and there is plenty oi scope on the Caspian Sea for him.