India to prosecute 35 pirates who hijacked ship off Somalia, navy official says

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India will bring in and prosecute 35 Somali pirates its navy captured on a hijacked ship off Somalia, a navy official said, in a departure from its recent practice of rescuing vessels and crew but leaving the disarmed pirates at sea.

The captured pirates are due to arrive in India on Saturday and will be handed over to the law enforcement agencies, the official said. He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

The exact charges against the pirates were not immediately clear, he added.

Indian navy commandos managed to release the Malta-flagged commercial ship MV Ruen on Saturday, which had been hijacked 450 nautical miles east of Socotra in the northern Arabian Sea by Somali pirates on Dec 14.

It marked the first hijacking of a merchant ship 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 piracy peak, India's navy used to prosecute and jail in India pirates involved in major attacks, but in recent months the navy has taken to leaving the pirates at sea. The Ruen pirates will be the first India prosecutes in years, the official added.

India has deployed at least a dozen warships in the Gulf of Aden and the northern Arabian Sea since December, which enables it to assist vessels east of the Red Sea, where the navies of several countries, including the United States, are trying to secure shipping routes under attack from Yemen's Houthi militants.

The Indian official said that since the Ruen's hijacking, the navy has kept the region under "continuous surveillance activities" using its aerial platforms and information gathered from other vessels it has been investigating.

On March 14 Ruen was spotted off the Somali coast, British maritime security firm Ambrey said.

The navy official said that the pirates had converted Ruen into a mother-ship, using boats to launch attacks on other vessels. It was intercepted on March 15, the navy said in a statement on Saturday.

Another merchant vessel, MV Abdullah was hijacked off Somalia last week, and Somali forces were planning to attack with foreign navies.

Pirate ship capture showcases India’s world-class special forces, analysts say

The Indian Navy’s rescue of a commercial ship from pirates off Somalia’s coast last weekend shows how Delhi’s military has developed special forces capabilities on par with some of the world’s best, analysts say.

The navy rescued 17 crew members of the vessel MV Ruen during an anti-piracy operation lasting nearly two days, according to an Indian Navy news release, with no casualties reported. Dozens of pirates were taken into custody, it said.

The operation involved a navy destroyer, a patrol ship, an Indian Air Force C-17 transporter flying more than 1,500 miles to airdrop marine commandos, a naval drone, a reconnaissance drone and a P-8 surveillance jet, the release said.

“The success of the operation marks the Indian Navy as a top-class force in terms of training, command and control and other capabilities,” said John Bradford, Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs fellow.

“What marks this operation as impressive is how risk was minimized by using a coordinated force that includes use of a warship, drones, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and marine commandos.”

Experts fear the volatile security situation in the Red Sea due to attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels on commercial shipping may tie up international forces and provide a window for Somali pirates in the nearby Horn of Africa – presenting a multi-billion-dollar threat to the global economy.

Yemen and Somalia are among the region’s poorest nations, both ravaged by years of civil war.

Somali pirates’ capture of the MV Ruen in December last year marked the first successful hijacking of a vessel off the country’s coast since 2017.

Spanish, Japanese and Indian warships tracked the Malta-flagged, Bulgarian-managed bulk carrier as it was taken into Somali territorial waters, according to a December report from the European Union Naval Force.

But when the Ruen, now operated by a pirate crew, last week left Somali waters with the intent of committing acts of piracy on the high seas, the Indian Navy made moves to intercept it, according to a navy statement posted on social platform X.

The destroyer INS Kolkata, operating in the area to help ensure international maritime security, used a ship-launched drone to confirm the Ruen was being operated by armed pirates, the Indian statement said.

A helicopter flies over the commercial vessel MV Ruen during an Indian military anti-piracy operation last weekend. - Ministry of Defence/PIB
A helicopter flies over the commercial vessel MV Ruen during an Indian military anti-piracy operation last weekend. - Ministry of Defence/PIB

After the pirates fired on the drone, destroying it, and then on the Indian warship itself, the Kolkata responded by firing on the Ruen, disabling its steering and navigation, the statement said.

As the Kolkata sought the surrender of the pirates, the commandos parachuted in after a 10-hour flight from India, the air force said on X. Rafts were also dropped into the ocean from the large transport for marines to reach the Ruen.

The Indian show of force proved too much for the pirates.

“Due to sustained pressure and calibrated actions by the Indian Navy over the last 40 hours, all 35 Somali pirates surrendered,” the navy statement said.

Bulgarian leaders, including President Rumen Radev, thanked India and its Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the operation.

“My sincere gratitude to (Modi) for the brave action of (the) Navy rescuing the hijacked Bulgarian ship ‘Ruen’ and its crew, including 7 Bulgarian citizens,” Radev posted on X.

Analyst Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, said the incident highlighted the professionalism of the Indian Navy and said Delhi’s marine commando force, known as MARCOS, had learned from its US and British counterparts.

“The Indian Navy itself is a highly trained and disciplined professional force,” Schuster said.

“MARCOS’ nearly eight months of training is modeled after Britain’s SAS. Despite a very intense selection process, only about 10% to 15% of those who enter the training graduate,” he said.

The analysts noted that the Indian Navy is experienced in anti-piracy operations, going back more than 20 years – and the restive security situation in one of the world’s major shipping lanes meant they were likely to be called on again.

In a January media briefing, an Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson said maritime security in the region is a priority for India.

“The ongoing activities there are indeed a matter of concern, and it affects our economic interests,” official spokesperson Shri Randhir Jaiswal said.

“We are consistently monitoring the situation. Our naval forces, naval vessels are engaged in ensuring the safety of our commercial vessels,” Jaiswal said.

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