Indian Navy hands over nine pirates to Mumbai Police

The Indian Navy on Thursday said it has handed over to the Mumbai Police nine pirates who were apprehended in an operation in east of Somalia last week reported news agency PTIIndian warships INS Trishul and INS Sumedha carried out a major operation in the high seas on March 29 that resulted in successful rescue of fishing vessel Al Kambar and its crew of 23 Pakistani nationalsThe Navy said all nine pirates involved in piracy were apprehended in that operationINS Trishul arrived at Mumbai on April 3 and handed over all nine pirates to the local police for further legal action in accordance with the Indian laws specifically the Maritime AntiPiracy Act 2022 Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said reported PTIIndian Navy reaffirms its resolve to safeguard all merchant shipping and seafarers transiting in Indian Ocean Region irrespective of their nationality it saidThe operation involved INS Sumedha and guided missile frigate INS TrishulAfter the successful operation of the Indian Navy team the pirates surrendered and the crew members were rescued The pirates were then taken into custody by the Navy and after six days of journey the pirates were brought to Mumbai an official said on Wednesday reported PTIDuring questioning of the crew members of the fishing vessel it came to light Somalian pirates were carrying AK47 rifles hand grenades and rocket launchers The pirates threatened to kill crew members if they made any movement he said reported PTIAfter rescuing the crew members and detaining the pirates Indian Navy commandos inspected the fishing vessel and recovered 728 live rounds of AK47 rifle a GPS global positioning system device and eight mobile phones he said reported PTIThe sea robbers had thrown their weapons into the sea after warning from the Indian Navy commandos according to the official reported PTIThe Navy later handed over the pirates to the Mumbai police who placed them arrest he added reported PTIThe Mumbai police registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code IPC the Maritime AntiPiracy Act the Passports Act and the Foreigners Act against the pirates and placed them under arrest the official said reported PTIThe arrested pirates were identified as Gelie Jama Farah 50 Ahmed Bashir Omar 42 Abdikarin Mohmmad Shire 34 Adan Hasan Warmase 44 Mohammed Abdi Ahmed 34 Abdikadir Mohmmad Ali 28 Aydid Mohmud Jimale 30 Said Yasin Adan 25 and Jama Said Elmi 18 the police said reported PTIThe pirates were able to speak only in their native Somali language and help of translators will be taken to communicate with them during questioning the official said reported PTIThe arrested Somalian pirates will be produced before a Mumbai court on Thursday he saidThe latest action comes two weeks after the Navy rescued another vessel freed 17 hostages and captured 35 armed pirates in a nearly 40hour dramatic midsea operation off the Somalia coastThese 35 pirates were also brought to Mumbai and placed under arrest by the policeWith inputs from PTI