Friday, December 31, 2010
COPENHAGEN (AFP)— A Danish warship patrolling the Gulf of Aden under NATO operational control disarmed a vessel with alleged pirates aboard and detained the suspects, the Danish navy said Friday.
The crew of the Esbern Snare "disarmed (Thursday) a boat with suspected pirates. They remain detained on the Esbern Snare," the navy said in a statement.
It said Danish merchant ship Elly Maersk had on Thursday reported a suspicious vessel to the Esbern Snare, whose crew then "quickly found the boat in question with six people aboard using a helicopter."
When the Danish seamen boarded the vessel, "the suspected pirates were arrested to allow for the gathering of additional evidence," the navy added.
The Esbern Snare, a command and control vessel, is taking part in NATO's anti-piracy operation in the Gulf of Aden, dubbed "Ocean Shield", which started in August 2009 and has been extended until the end of 2012.
Somali pirates staged 37 successful hijackings of ships in the region in the first 10 months of 2010, up from 33 in the same period of 2009, the United Nations said in a report published in early November.
Somalia has had no central government since a civil war erupted with the 1991 overthrow of former president Mohamed Siad Barre, and an Al-Qaeda supported Islamist militia is battling transitional leaders for power.
Source: AFP