New Delhi: In a major operation, the
Indian Navy intercepted a pirate mother ship, rescuing 13 crew members, and arrested 61 Somali sea brigands about 600 nautical miles off the western coast.
"Vega 5, a pirate mother vessel, was intercepted by
a fast attack craft, INS Kalpeni. 61 pirates were apprehended
and 13 crew members rescued," a Navy spokesperson said here Monday.
The pirates and their ship were being brought to
Mumbai for further investigations, the spokesperson said.
Details including as to when the operation took place
were not immediately available.
INS Kalpeni was inducted into the navy in October
last year.
In January, the Navy under `Operation Island Watch`
had sunk two pirate mother ships and apprehended 43 pirates.
The pirates were questioned in Mumbai by intelligence
agencies for any possible terror links.
The operation apprehending 61 pirates comes after
the Cabinet Committee on Security on Friday last decided to
adopt a proactive approach in dealing with sea brigands, who
have held around 53 Indians as hostages in different hijacked
ships. Government had ruled out negotiations with the pirates.
The government is working on a tough law to deal
with the piracy problem.
At present, piracy is dealt with under the
provisions of the Indian Penal Code and century-old Admiralty
law but the government would like to have a separate statute
with provisions to effectively tackle the problem that takes
place far away from Indian shores.
The Navy has deployed three ships in the Gulf of Aden
and the Arabian Sea to deal with the piracy menace.
PTI
