NEW DELHI: Striking yet another blow at the very heart of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Indian warship INS Mysore and its marine commandos thwarted a
hijack attempt on an Ethiopian merchant vessel on Saturday and captured 23 pirates and a large arms cache in the operation
The arrest of the 23 pirates (12 Somali and 11 Yemeni) and the arms haul is the largest such seizure in the ongoing anti-piracy operations off Somalia. The confiscated arms and equipment included seven AK-47s, three other assault rifles, 13 loaded magazines, a rocket-propelled grenade launcher with two rockets, several grenades, a GPS set and a mobile phone.
Early November, the British Royal Navy had captured eight pirates, who were subsequently handed over to Kenya to face trial in the port town of Mombasa. "The external affairs ministry is now working to find out to which country the 23 pirates in INS Mysore's custody can be handed over,'' said a senior officer.
"INS Mysore, which replaced stealth frigate INS Tabar early December, may head for Djibouti on the horn of Africa. Our plan to base a maritime reconnaissance aircraft like a Dornier at Djibouti (which has a French military base) is also underway,'' he added.
Pirates operating with sheer impunity from ports like Eyl and Hobyo in Somalia, torn apart by an 18-year-old civil war, have already attacked as many as 100 merchant vessels transiting through the crucial shipping lane this year. At least 17 of the hijacked ships and their crew are still being held captive by the pirates for ransom.
The dramatic action on the high seas on Saturday began at 11am IST when the 6,900-tonne Delhi-class missile destroyer INS Mysore received a "distress call'' over the MMB Channel 16 from Ethiopian merchant vessel Gibe that it was being attacked by a pirate "mother dhow'' and a speedboat around 150 nautical miles east of Aden.
An armed Chetak helicopter, with four marine commandos, was immediately "launched'' from INS Mysore towards Gibe, which was 13 nautical miles from the Indian warship at that point in time.
"The sailors on Gibe were exchanging small arms fire with the pirates. On spotting the armed Chetak hovering overhead, the pirate boats broke off their attack,'' said an officer.
Soon after, steaming at full speed, the deadly INS Mysore also reached the spot. By then, all 23 pirates had clambered onto the 10-metre-long dhow -- later identified as `Salahaddin' -- in a bid to escape.
INS Mysore then opened fire across the dhow's bows with its heavy-calibre machine guns, forcing the sea bandits to come to a complete halt. A detachment of heavily-armed marine commandos promptly sped across to the pirate dhow in their fibre-glass inflatable boats.
"Seeing the Marcos, the pirates surrendered quite easily, even though for some time they pretended to be plain fishermen. A search of the dhow led to the discovery of the large arms cache and three outboard motors,'' he said.
"The grenades, being unstable, were thrown off overboard. The 23 pirates and the other arms were taken on board INS Mysore, which will resume its patrolling duties after handing over them over to appropriate ashore authorities,'' he added.
Though over 20 warships from US, EU and other countries are patrolling the piracy-infested Gulf of Aden, which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, it's actually the Indian Navy which has taken the battle to the pirates.
On November 11, INS Tabar had repulsed two hijack attempts, one on an Indian ship (MV Jag Arnav) and the other on a Saudi oil carrier (NCC Tihama), one after the other.
Then, on November 18, it had sunk Thai trawler "Ekawat Nava 5'', which had been commandeered by pirates, after a gunbattle. Though the Navy had come in for some criticism for sinking the Thai trawler, Admiral Suresh Mehta had declared that his force had done nothing wrong.
"Thai ownership does not change the situation. It was under the command of pirates. Use of force was inevitable... We acted in self-defence,'' said the Navy chief. External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, too, had strongly defended the Navy's anti-piracy action on the high seas.
The above news item is from the Times of India.
Another feather on the cap of the Indian Navy.
What I do not understand is why the pirates should be handed over to the countries they belong to.
If those countries could have controlled them, the present problem would not have arisen in the first place. Those countries would release the pirates to roam the high sea again.
Any pirates caught on the high seas, should be photographed, identified, the countries should be informed and then made to walk the plank with heavy loads so they sink to the bottom.
Similar fate should be handed out to the terrorists.
All those killed should be thrown to the jackals. No proper funerals should be accorded to them, no matter what religion.
Those caught should be made to talk, photographed, identified, their countries informed and shot. Keeping them in jails just makes others commit crimes to free them.
While I am at it, why is Afzal Guru still alive? Why hasn't he been hanged even after Mumbai terrorist attack?
And our government talks of zero tolerance.
What is surprising it the inaction of the US Navy with 23 ships in the area.
Is it because there is no oil for it to pilfer like it did in Iraq or is it because no US ships have been attacked?
Radheshyam
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