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India captures 28 Somali pirates
Fifty-two men, including 28 Somali pirates, were brought to Mumbai on Sunday evening, hours after two vessels of the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard foiled an attack by the pirates on a Greek merchant vessel about 100 nautical miles off the Lakshadweep coast.
Police and intelligence officials were interrogating the pirates here at night, quizzing them about their possible links to terrorist organisations. This is the second time in about a week that India successfully combated attempts by Somali pirates, to raid merchant vessels.
According to an Indian Navy spokesman, the Mumbai-headquartered Western Naval Command got information on Saturday evening that a Greek merchant vessel, the MV Chios, was being chased by pirates off the Lakshadweep coast.
Even as the Greek ship tried to escape the pirates, who were on a couple of high-speed skiffs, the Navy alerted the INS Tir and the Coast Guard vessel, ICGS Samar, both of which had been deployed in the central Arabian Sea to tackle the piracy menace.
The two ships headed towards the Greek ship and directed the pirate vessels to surrender.
The skiffs tried to escape towards the ‘mothership’, the Prantalay 11, a hijacked Thai trawler, from where the pirates fired on the Indian vessels. The Navy and the Coast Guard returned fire, following which the pirates raised the white flag and surrendered.
Of the 52 men who were captured and brought to Mumbai, 28 are suspected to be Somali pirates, said the spokesman. The remaining are sailors from Thailand, part of the original crew of the hijacked vessel.
The pirates have in recent months seized a series of Thai trawlers, including some from the Prantalay series.
Last week, an Indian Navy fast attack craft sank Prantalay 14, which was being used as a mother ship by the pirates, in another anti-piracy operation in the central Arabian Sea.
Somali pirates have been active in the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, attacking many merchant vessels. In October 2008, the Indian Navy began patrolling the Gulf of Aden as part of an anti-piracy campaign. Indian naval vessels have been escorting thousands of cargo ships along the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor in the Gulf of Aden, following which the pirates have shifted to the central and eastern Arabian Sea.
The Indian Navy and the directorate-general of shipping have directed all merchant vessels to adopt ‘best management practices’ in the affected waters; these include creating a ‘safe house’ by fortifying the bridge or engine room and by undertaking evasive exercises and delaying tactics.
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