Tag Archives: somalia pirate

Puntland Pirates, ahoy

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The EU Naval Force, which is currently operating off the coast of Somalia, has received positive confirmation from the master of the Comoros-flagged tanker, Aris 13, that his ship and crew are currently being held captive by a number of suspected armed pirates in an anchorage off the north coast of Puntland, close to Alula.

Reuters is reporting the Aris 13 has eight Sri Lankan crew on board. Somali authorities said the incident is the first time a commercial ship has been seized in the region since 2012 and they are going in to effect a rescue.

“We are determined to rescue the ship and its crew. Our forces have set off to Alula. It is our duty to rescue ships hijacked by pirates and we shall rescue it,” said Abdirahman Mohamud Hassan, director general of Puntland’s marine police forces.

Update: The Somali “pirates” were apparently fishermen who used to be pirates who seized the tanker as a warning to the government to get the lead out to help the fishermen keep their fish by running off those using their waters illegally. Apparently, it was kinda of a “you better do right by us, or we will pick up the Kalash and start doing this crap again” kind of statement. Anyway, they have released the oil tanker and crew, unmolested.

Four years in pirate prison

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The FV Naham 3, right, tied to the sunken cargo ship MV Albedo, the latter pirated in November 2010. Photo: EU NAVFOR

The FV Naham 3, right, tied to the sunken cargo ship MV Albedo, the latter pirated in November 2010. Photo: EU NAVFOR

In one of the last gasps of Somali piracy, the remaining 26 man mixed international crew of the Omani-flagged FV Naham 3, seized in 2012 close to the Seychelles in a pirate attack, have been released by their captors.

Via Reuters:

“The crew is staying overnight in Galkayo. They will arrive in (the Kenyan capital) Nairobi at 1830 local time tomorrow,” said John Steed, East Africa region manager for the Oceans Beyond Piracy group.

The mayor of Galkayo in northern Somalia had earlier said the crew was set to arrive in Kenya on Saturday afternoon.

“The crew did not say if ransom was paid,” mayor Hirsi Yusuf Barre told Reuters.

Their period of captivity is one of the longest among hostages seized by pirates in the anarchic Horn of Africa nation.

Steed said one member of the crew had died during the hijacking while two succumbed to illness. Among those released, one was being treated for a gunshot wound on his foot and three were diabetic.

The sailors were held in Dabagala near the town of Harardheere some 400 km (250 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu. Harardheere became known as Somalia’s main pirate base at the height of the crisis.

Naham 3 is going to be in Somalia the rest of her life, she sank in 2013.