look news india
New Delhi, March 23 (HS). 35 Somalian pirates who surrendered before the Indian Navy on March 16 in the Arabian Sea have been brought and handed over to Mumbai Police. 16 crew members who were rescued from their custody were also brought to Mumbai on Saturday. These pirates had hijacked Malta's merchant ship MV Rouen along with its crew in December last year. Last week, when the Navy surrounded these pirates, these pirates shot down the drone and also fired on the Navy warship but had to surrender before the Indian commandos during the operation that lasted for more than 40 hours.
Navy Chief Admiral R. According to Hari Kumar, the Indian Navy is conducting extensive surveillance in this area as part of maritime security operations, which also includes traffic monitoring. Despite this, Malta's merchant ship MV Ruen, passing through the Arabian Sea, was hijacked by Somalian pirates on December 14 last year along with its 35-member crew. Since then this ship was in the possession of pirates but on March 15, based on the input received about this ship from the Information Center located in Gurugram, the Indian Navy sent the warship INS Kolkata to start the operation. The Indian ship started monitoring the pirate ship but on seeing INS Kolkata, the ship changed course and started moving towards the Somali coast. Several armed pirates were seen on the upper deck of the ship.
After this the Indian Navy took several steps to stop the pirates. INS Kolkata directed to intercept the ship about 260 nautical miles east of Somalia. Warship Kolkata intercepted MV Rouen on the morning of 15 March and launched a drone but the pirates shot down the drone and also fired at the warship. After this, on March 16, patrol ship INS Subhadra also took part in this operation. In the afternoon of the same day, Marine Commandos were airdropped in the vicinity of MV Rouen by an Air Force C-17 transport aircraft. Apart from this, the ship was being monitored with the help of Hale RPA and P-8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft.
Having thus established a strong siege, INS Kolkata took precise action while maintaining its position close to the pirate ship. All 35 pirates surrendered in the afternoon of 16 March after an operation that lasted approximately 40 hours. After this, the Navy rescued the ship MV Rouen from the possession of pirates and safely evacuated the 17 crew members present on the ship without any injury. The naval team freed the ship from illegal arms, ammunition and contraband. After this the robbers and crew members were flown towards India. These 35 Somali pirates were handed over to Mumbai Police today after completing customs and immigration formalities. Scenes at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai, showed the pirates standing in a queue as the Mumbai Police gave them chest numbers.
