It was announced on 21st October by the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in both London and Kuala Lumpur that global piracy figures have already surpassed the total number of attacks recorded in 2008. It was also revealed that the total number of incidents in which guns were used had risen by more than 200% compared to the corresponding period in 2008. A total of 306 incidents were reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) in the first nine months of 2009, while in 2008, the total number of attacks for the year was 293.