Dutch navy wins small victory over Somali pirates
The EU anti-piracy task force off Somalia says the Dutch navy has arrested 13 Somali pirates who attempted to hijack a cargo ship south of Oman. This is a fairly infrequent victory for multinational forces in the vital shipping lane that crosses the Gulf of Aden. A Dutch warship found a pirate vessel fitting the description of the attackers, and seized machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, ladders and grappling hooks. The pirates could be handed over to Kenya or the Seychelles for prosecution. Pirate attacks have become common off the Somali coast, and the EU taskforce is one of several international navies now patrolling the area. But Somalia’s pirates have now started hijacking ships thousands of kilometres into the Indian Ocean, leading the Seychelles to acquire US unmanned drones to help battle the problem.Read more: BBC, Reuters, Homeland Security Newswire
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