India To Prosecute 35 Somali Pirates Captured On Hijacked Ship Off Somalia

India will prosecute 35 Somali pirates its navy captured on a hijacked ship off Somalia, according to naval personnel. It is departing from its recent practice of rescuing vessels and crew and leaving the disarmed pirates at sea.

The captured pirates are scheduled to reach India on Saturday and are going to be handed over to law enforcement agencies, the official said. He refused to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to the media.

He stated that the accurate charges brought against the pirates weren’t immediately clear. The commandos of the Indian navy managed to release the Malta-flagged commercial vessel dubbed the MV Ruen on Saturday, which was hijacked some 450 nm to the east of Socotra based in the northern Arabian Sea by the Somali pirates on 14 December.

It also marked the first-ever hijacking of a merchant vessel by Somali pirates since 2017. At the peak of their attacks in 2011, Somali pirates cost the global economy an estimated $7 billion, including hundreds of millions of dollars in ransom payments.

During the peak of piracy, the Indian navy used to jail and prosecute in India pirates who were involved in any major attacks. However, the navy has taken to leaving the pirates at sea in recent months.

India has also deployed about a dozen war vessels in the Gulf of Aden as well as the northern Arabian Sea from December onward, which helps assist vessels that sail to the east of the Red Sea, where navies of many countries, including the US, have been trying to secure shipping channels under attack from the Yemeni Houthi militants.

The Indian official stated that from the time of Ruen’s hijacking, the navy has been able to keep the area under consistent surveillance actions with the help of its smart aerial platforms as well as unique information gathered from the other vessels it has been looking into. On 14 March, Ruen had been seen spotted off the Somali coast, British maritime security major Ambrey stated.

The navy official said that the pirates had converted Ruen into a mother ship, using boats for launching brutal attacks on other vessels. It had been intercepted on 15 March, the navy reported in a statement on Saturday.

Yet another merchant vessel, MV Abdullah, had been hijacked last week. This took place in Somalia, and the Somali forces were planning to attack with the help of foreign navies.

Reference: Reuters

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