Yellow Gate police seek custody of just 6 pirates

The Yellow Gate police, to whom the 61 pirates caught by Indian Navy have been handed over, sought custody of only six pirates due to lack of space to keep them at the police station for interrogation.

The six have been remanded in police custody till March 21 while the rest have been sent to judicial custody.

Police officials suspect that out of the 61 pirates, one is an Ethiopian national while the rest are Somali nationals. It is strongly suspected that he could be the operational kingpin, and will be interrogated accordingly.

The Ethiopian national has been making gestures and has been trying to tell the police that he himself was a hostage and was forced to carry out piracy operations by the others.

Deputy commissioner of police, port zone, Quaiser Khalid said, “We will seek the custody of pirates in batches and it will help us interrogate them in a more efficient manner. It is clear that the arrested accused were involved in hijacking the Mozambique-flagged vessel, Vega 5, which capsised after it caught fire during exchange of fire between the pirates and navy personnel. The missing crew members of Vega 5 are suspected to be still kept hostage by the masterminds somewhere on the Somali mainland.”

The 13 rescued hostages, who are Mozambique and Indonesian nationals have been lodged in hotels and embassies of respective countries are communicating with police to initiate the process of sending them back to their home country.

Medical tests of all the hostages and pirates were carried out and no injury or assault marks have been found. On March 12, the arrested accused were nabbed by navy personnel during an anti-piracy operation 600 nautical miles off the Indian coast.

Statements of the hostages will also be recorded by the police to gather evidence against the accused.