The Indian Navy has brought the 61 captured pirates to Mumbai on Wednesday and handed them over to the Yellow Gate police for further action.
The Indian Navy has brought the 61 captured pirates to Mumbai on Wednesday and handed them over to the Yellow Gate police for further action.
They have also brought the 13 rescued crew members of Vega 5, the hijacked ship. The consulates of their respective countries will be contacted for their repatriation.
Apart from other Acts and certain sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the pirates will be booked under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), said the police.
The navy had captured the pirates on March 12 in a major anti-piracy operation in the Arabian Sea. While 60 of the pirates are Somali nationals, one is an Ethiopian.
The pirates had taken over Vega 5 four months ago and held its crew members hostage. They used the ship as their mother vessel to carry out attacks on merchant ships in the sea.
On March 11, following a distress call from a merchant ship named MV Vancouver Bridge, a naval aircraft spotted the pirates. Seeing the aircraft they tried to escape towards the mother vessel.
The INS Khukri and INS Kalpeni chased them. After an exchange of fire, the pirates were captured.
Deputy commissioner of police, Port Zone, Quaiser Khalid said: “The arrested pirates will be produced in court on Thursday. We will seek their custody and then interrogate them with the help of interpreters. The accused will be booked under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Passport Act, Arms Act and attempt to murder, attack on government personnel and several other sections of IPC.”
“The pirates will be kept at the Yellow Gate police station and the rescued crew members will be sent to their respective countries once their consulates get in touch with us.”
The crew members have revealed that there were 23 of them when their vessel was hijacked on December 28. However, they do not have any idea what has happened to 10 of them. Out of the 13 members, 12 are from Mozambique and the other is an Indonesian.
The navy has recovered 21 AK-47 assault rifles and three rocket propelled guns (RPG). It is believed that the pirates had around 90 rifles and RPGs.
In another case, Indian crew members of a merchant ship named RAK Afrikana were released on March 8. These crew members who reached Mumbai on Wednesday revealed that they were kept hostage since April 11 last year and tortured by the pirates.
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