Kenya ? As U.S. Navy ships looked on, Somali pirates sped away Thursday with $3.2 million in ransom after releasing an arms-laden Ukrainian freighter — ending a four-month standoff that focused world attention on piracy off Somalia’s lawless coast.

The Navy said it couldn’t seize the bandits for fear of endangering 147 other seamen still held hostage on other hijacked ships.

So, within sight of two nearby U.S. warships, the pirates counted the cash — air-dropped by parachute — then took off in motorboats, pirate Aden Abdi Omar said, speaking to The Associated Press by satellite phone after arriving in the central Somali town of Harardhere.

The $3.2 million booty — among the largest-ever reported ransoms — would be divvied up among the pirates, he said.