Indian warship thwarts piracy attempt
NEW DELHI: Striking another blow against piracy in the Gulf of Aden, an Indian warship intercepted a vessel carrying arms and ammunition in the region on Sunday.
The Navy said destroyer INS Delhi was escorting 12 merchant vessels through the "international recommended transit corridor'' when the pirate boat was spotted approaching the formation at high speed around 180 km north of the Somali coast on Sunday afternoon.
"The boat, Bareeda, was intercepted after it failed to respond to the calls made by INS Delhi over the mercantile marine radio. The team of marine commandos which boarded the vessel found a cache of arms, fuel drums and ship-boarding equipment on it,'' said an officer.
"The seven Somali and one Yemeni nationals were disarmed. Apart from the seizure of their arms, the excess fuel on the boat was also disposed off,'' he added.
The Navy has been deploying warships in the Gulf of Aden on anti-piracy patrols since October 2008. "Over 1,200 ships have been safely escorted by us through the strategic trade route since then, thwarting 16 piracy attempts,'' he added.
With pirates now operating much beyond the Gulf of Aden, India has also been sending offshore patrol vessels to the waters near Seychelles and Mauritius to bolster anti-piracy patrols there.
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