The Threat of Modern Piracy- A Merged Thread

[geo]

two phase format

1.  Blow the pirates out of the water when they are "caught in the act".

2.  Deny them the benefit of enjoying their illgotten wealth.  They continue to live in Somali coastal towns, building mega homes & showing off so much "bling" that it should not be all that difficult to segregate the bad guys from the poor sod who is simply trying to survive.

 

[mariomike]

2.  Deny them the benefit of enjoying their illgotten wealth.  They continue to live in Somali coastal towns, building mega homes

Between the wars the RAF used to fly over the homes of troublesome warlords and drop a rock with a note wrapped around it near the front door. The note said something like if they didn't behave, next time their house would be wrecked from above.
Just something I read in a book. Perhaps no longer relevant.

 

[FastEddy]

A more effective method would be to "Blow them out of the water if they attack".

My Dear GAP, do you realize that under our Charter of Human Rights, that it would constitute Cruel and Inhumane acts, not to mention denying them of Due Process of Law and Trial.

As Canadians we must always follow and take the High Road.

As for writing this Crap, the Devil made me do it. >

Cheers.

 

[George Wallace]

My Dear GAP, do you realize that under our Charter of Human Rights, that it would constitute Cruel and Inhumane acts, not to mention denying them of Due Process of Law and Trial.

As Canadians we must always follow and take the High Road.

As for writing this Crap, the Devil made me do it. >

Cheers.

I think that the qualifier by GAP "if they attack" would justify blowing them out of the water............'with extreme prejudice.'  ;D

 

[GAP]

Italy ship thwarts pirate attack
Article Link

A captain of an Italian cruise ship has given the BBC a dramatic account of how his crew fended off a pirate attack near the coast of Somalia.

Capt Ciro Pinto said six pirates in a speedboat approached his Melody ship and opened fire, but then fled after security men fired in the air.

He said his crew also sprayed water on the gunmen when they tried to climb aboard using a ladder.

No-one was hurt in Saturday's incident. Some 1,500 people were on the vessel.

Somali pirates have also seized an empty Yemeni oil tanker and clashed with coast guards on Sunday, a Yemeni official said.

Two pirates were killed in the action as the Yemeni coast guard tried to free the vessel, a Yemeni government official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

The official said three pirates and two Yemeni coast guards were also wounded in the exchange.


Last year, pirates attacked more than 100 ships in the region, demanding huge ransom for their release. Their attacks have intensified recently.

'Throwing chairs'

Capt Pinto told the BBC that the pirates tried to hijack his ship late on Saturday, about 290km (180 miles) north of Victoria in the Seychelles.

"One white small boat with six people on board approached the port

side of the ship and started shooting."

The captain said the pirates fired some 200 rounds of shots on the vessel.

His said "our security started shooting in the air... and also we started spraying some water" to beat off the attackers.

Capt Pinto said the pirates were forced to give up after about five minutes of shooting and a high-speed chase.

Samantha Hendey from Durban, South Africa, told the BBC that her sister Tabitha Nicholson was on board the ship during the attack and the situation was "pretty dramatic".

"She said that there were lots of passengers on deck watching it unfold and they even took action themselves by throwing chairs overboard, trying to hit the pirates," Samantha said.
More on link​

 

[OldSolduer]

It makes me wonder if maybe the "leaders" of our nations have the guts to confront anything bad at all. Talk about wearing lace underwear...... ;D

Well done to the cruise ship!!

 

[FastEddy]

It makes me wonder if maybe the "leaders" of our nations have the guts to confront anything bad at all. Talk about wearing lace underwear...... ;D

Well done to the cruise ship!!

Boy have you got that right.

Cheers.

 

[Yrys]

Spanish capture 'Somali pirates'

Spanish forces have arrested nine Somalis suspected of being the pirates
who attacked an Italian cruise ship.

A warship intercepted a skiff carrying the nine Somali suspects, the Spanish
defence ministry said. The nine were captured near the Seychelles and
handed over to authorities there, officials said.

The Italian cruise ship, the Melody, was attacked by a group of pirates in a
speedboat in the area on Saturday. No-one was hurt in the incident. The
ship's crew and security men repulsed the attack by firing into the air and
spraying the gunmen with water. About 1,500 people were on the vessel.

Search launched

After the hijacking attempt, a search was launched for the pirates by the
Spanish frigate Numancia, along with patrol planes from the Seychelles
and France and an Indian navy ship.

Spanish officials said that during the search they found two small boats
with nine suspects on board close to the scene of the attack. The suspects
abandoned one of the boats and were later caught in the skiff.

The Numancia "intercepted a skiff with nine occupants who could be connected
to the hijacking attempt of the Italian cruise ship which was eventually repelled
by the boat," the defence ministry said in a statement quoted by AFP news agency.
The nine are the latest suspected pirates to be arrested by international forces
operating off the coast of Somalia.

France has charged three people with hijacking and false imprisonment after
a rescue operation involving a yacht in the Indian Ocean on 10 April.

A Somali teenager is also facing trial in the US after being captured during
the rescue of a ship's captain off the coast of Somalia earlier this month.

 

[Yrys]

Somali vigilantes capture pirates

Somali vigilantes have captured 12 armed pirates in two boats, as coastal communities
begin to fight back against the sea raiders.

Regional leaders at Alula and Bargaal in Somalia's northern Puntland region told the BBC
they have put together a militia of fishermen to catch pirates. They decided to act as they
were fed up with their fishing vessels being seized at gunpoint by the ocean-going bandits.

Meanwhile, the Seychelles said it had arrested nine suspected pirates. The men were
intercepted by a Spanish frigate near the Indian Ocean archipelago on Monday. They are
accused of firing on Saturday at the Italian cruise ship the Melody - which had more than
1,500 passengers - in an attack repelled by Israeli security guards.

"They are now in detention in a prison cell of the Seychelles police force and are expected
to be charged and tried in the islands," Seychellois President James Michel's office said in
a statement on Tuesday, reported AFP news agency.

See map of how piracy is affecting the region and countries around the world

Somali pirates have hijacked 25 vessels since the beginning of this year and are holding
more than 260 crew around the stronghold of Eyl in Puntland, according to the International
Maritime Bureau.

Now frustrated regional leaders have taken the law into their own hands. One of them,
Faarah Mohammed, told the BBC: "There is a security committee set up by the communities
who live in Bargaal and Alula. "And they decided to confront whatever was creating problems
in their areas and particularly, the problems of the sea piracy. "And eventually their effort
led to the capture of three boats and 12 men with their weapons. One boat got away."

The BBC's Somali Service says the militia will have to hand the pirates over to the local
authorities. Somali pirates could face the death penalty under recent get-tough measures
announced by the internationally recognised but unsteady Somali government.

Navies from Nato, the EU, Russia, Japan, China, India, Yemen, US Malaysia and Singapore
have been patrolling the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in an effort to deter the gangs.
But some regional leaders say the foreign navies are protecting foreign fishing boats and
allowing them to continue scooping up the fish-stocks that once provided Somalis with their
livelihoods.

The lucrative lobster trade with Dubai is said to have collapsed after the foreign boats' giant
trawler nets damaged the fragile coral that is the crustaceans' habitat. As a result some
fishermen decided to become pirates, but it appears that the local communities are now
turning against these activities, says BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut.

 

[Yrys]

Russia captures Somalia pirates

International navies been moving
to arrest suspected pirates

A Russian warship has seized a pirate vessel with 29 people on board off the Somali coast,
Russian news reports say. Guns and navigation equipment were found during a search of
the pirate boat, officials were quoted as saying. They said the suspected pirates were
thought to have launched two unsuccessful attacks against a tanker with a Russian crew.

Russia is one of the countries that has deployed naval ships against pirates operating in
the area.

 

[CougarKing]

More details that add to those that Yrys posted.

Russian navy seizes 29 pirates off Somalia: report
Reuters

Tue Apr 28, 5:23 pm ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian warship captured a suspected pirate vessel with 29 people on board off the coast of Somalia, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday, citing defense ministry sources.

Russia's Admiral Panteleyev anti-submarine ship seized the vessel 15 miles off the coast of Somalia at 1212 GMT on Tuesday, the Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies reported.

Admiral Panteleyev

"Seven Kalashnikov rifles, various pistols and an aluminum ladder were discovered during a search of the ship," RIA Novosti quoted the source as saying. Satellite navigation equipment and a large amount of ammunition was also seized.

"This allows us to assume that this group of pirates undertook two unsuccessful attempts to seize the TF Commander tanker with a Russian crew that was traveling through this region yesterday," RIA quoted the source as saying.

Russia is among several naval powers with warships in the area to protect one of the world's busiest sea lanes from spate of hijackings by Somali pirates.

(Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Matthew Jones)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090428/wl_nm/..._pirates_russia

Plus another update:

In this photo released by the Spanish Defence Ministry Sunday April 26, 2009 the Italian cruise ship MSC Melody is escorted by the Spanish Frigate Marques de la Ensenada. The commander of an Italian cruise ship says his crew successfully fended off an attack by pirates off the coast of Somalia, returning fire when the pirates attacked. Cmdr. Ciro Pinto tells Italian state radio that he ordered his security forces to return fire when six men in a small white boat opened fire on the MSC Melody on Saturday night April 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Spanish Defence Ministry, HO)

Seychelles security officers lead a suspected Somali pirate © off a Seychelles coast guard vessel in the capital Victoria, April 28, 2009. A Spanish warship has arrested nine suspected pirates believed to be behind an attack on an Italian cruise ship and handed them over to Seychelles, the head of an anti-piracy taskforce said on Tuesday.
REUTERS/George Thande (SEYCHELLES SOCIETY CONFLICT)

Paramedics attend to a suspected Somali pirate arrested near the Seychelles April 28, 2009. A Spanish warship has arrested nine suspected pirates believed to be behind an attack on an Italian cruise ship and handed them over to Seychelles, the head of an anti-piracy taskforce said on Tuesday.
REUTERS/George Thande (SEYCHELLES CRIME LAW POLITICS)

 

[CougarKing]

Forces from France`s ship Nivose intercept Somali pirates April 15, 2009, in this picture released by the French Ministry of Defence.

The French navy frigate Nivose, carrying 11 Somalia pirates, arrives at the port of Mombasa April 22, 2009. The pirates will be handed over to the Kenyan government this afternoon. The U.S. pledge to hunt down the fortunes Somali pirates amassed from capturing ships on the high seas may score political points but is unlikely to yield much bounty, experts say. REUTERS/Antony Njuguna (KENYA CONFLICT SOCIETY)

The French navy warship Nivose is seen docked in front of the German replenishment ship Berlin at the port of Mombasa, 500 km (311 miles) from the capital Nairobi, April 22, 2009. The pirates were handed over to the Kenyan government. The U.S. pledge to hunt down the fortunes Somali pirates amassed from capturing ships on the high seas may score political points but is unlikely to yield much bounty, experts say. REUTERS/Joseph Okangaa (KENYA CONFLICT SOCIETY MILITARY)

French Commandos escorts one of the suspected pirates, 2nd left, from the ship. Nivose, a French frigate serving in the international fleet trying to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden arrived in the Port of Mombasa Kenya, Wednesday, April 22, 2009,with 11 detained suspected pirates. France has traditionally been aggressive in fighting piracy - this was its ninth military operation against pirates. Three Somali pirates were in the French city of Rennes on last Wednesday facing judicial investigation after being captured in a hostage rescue Friday. Several other pirates are also in French custody after being seized last year. (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

French commandos hand over to a Kenyan police officer in plain clothes, left, a suspected pirate, center, after the French naval frigate the Nivose, serving in the international fleet trying to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden arrived in the Port of Mombasa, Kenya, Wednesday, April 22, 2009, with 11 detained suspected pirates.
(AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

Kenyan police with some of the suspected pirates in a van after they were removed from the French ship. Nivose, a French frigate serving in the international fleet trying to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden arrived in the Port of Mombasa Kenya, Wednesday, April 22, 2009, with 11 detained suspected pirates.
(AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

 

[Yrys]

Somali pirate suspects captured

Some of the pirate suspects were taken on board a French frigate

Fourteen suspected Somali pirates have been captured in separate operations
by a French frigate and the Seychelles coast guard. French commandos on the
frigate Nivose caught 11 suspects some 900 kms (560 miles) off the Somali
coast, the French Defence Ministry says. The Nivose is reported to have alerted
the Seychelles authorities to help them capture the other three.

Somali pirates are currently holding nearly 20 ships for ransom.

On Saturday a Greek-owned ship with a Ukrainian crew was hijacked by Somali
pirates south-west of the Seychelles, a seafarers' group says. On the same day
a Portuguese warship thwarted an attack on a Norwegian vessel in the Gulf of Aden.

Moving south

According to the French navy, the commandos on the Nivose used fast outboard
vessels and a helicopter to detain the 11 Somali suspects who were on three vessels,
the AFP news agency reports. It is not clear what will happen to them. In earlier cases
pirate suspects have been sent for trial in Kenya or to Somalia's semi-autonomous
region of Puntland or to France.

The Nivose is part of the European Union's operation to protect shipping in the Gulf of
Aden. In April it captured 11 presumed pirates off the coast of Kenya.

As foreign navies have stepped up efforts to capture pirates in the Gulf of Aden they
have moved further south , operating more in waters of the Seychelles. The Seychelles
government says three more pirates were captured on Sunday. "The three men identified
themselves as Somali. They were travelling in a six-metre skiff with several barrels of fuel
and water onboard," a Seychelles presidential statement said, AFP reports.

Somalia has been without a stable government since 1991, allowing piracy to flourish.
The problem worsened in the first months of 2009.

A helicopter from the Nivose hovers
above pirate suspects

 

[The Bread Guy]

Government of Canada extends Navy’s counter-piracy mission
NR–09.031 - May 3, 2009

OTTAWA – The Government of Canada is extending the counter-piracy mission of HMCS Winnipeg, as part of Standing NATO Maritime Group One off the Horn of Africa, to the beginning of June.  This extension allows HMCS Winnipeg to continue conducting operations with NATO allies off the coast of Somalia by maintaining a high-profile multi-lateral presence to defend against and deter acts of piracy.

“The Government of Canada is proud of its contribution and the extension of this vital maritime security mission,” said the Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay, Minister of National Defence and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway. “The hard work of the men and women serving on HMCS Winnipeg is a shining example of Canada’s commitment to global security.”

NATO announced the continuation of counter-piracy operations on April 24, 2009, in light of increased pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden.  The maritime group consists of vessels from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

HMCS Winnipeg’s deployment, conducted under Operation SEXTANT, gives Canada the opportunity to be part of a flexible, responsive international force.  The purpose of her counter-piracy operations is to deter and disrupt piracy through patrolling, presence, escort of vessels as required, and boarding and approach of suspected vessels.

“The extension of HMCS Winnipeg’s deployment demonstrates Canada’s continued endeavour, along with our coalition partners, to contribute to maritime security,” said General Walt Natynczyk, Chief of the Defence Staff.  “HMCS Winnipeg and her crew are truly making a difference, as seen just a few weeks ago when weapons were seized from a skiff.”

Commanded by Commander Craig Baines with a crew of approximately 240 officers and non-commissioned members, HMCS Winnipeg and her CH-124 Sea King detachment form a highly ready and technologically advanced warship.  She is expected to return to her home port of Esquimalt, B.C., in August 2009.

-30-

Note to editors:

For more information on Operation SEXTANT, visit: http://www.cefcom.forces.gc.ca/pa-ap/ops/sextant/index-eng.asp

Photos of HMCS Winnipeg's mission can be viewed at www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca
B-roll available at http://www.combatcamera.forces.gc.ca/common/combatcamera/news/

 

[MarkOttawa]

Byers the enforcer--letter of mine in the Globe and Mail, May 2; for some reason the paper's online letters section is blank
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinions/letters/
so I typed this up (their title):

Piracy policy polemic

So, the University of British Columbia's Michael Byers thinks the Conservative government is soft on pirates (Ottawa's Piracy Policy Flouts Law, Experts Say - May 1):
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090430.wpirate30/BNStory/International/
"It's ludicrous for the Harper government to claim that it can't arrest and prosecute pirates." Prof. Byers, an unsuccessful candidate for the NDP in the last federal election, is being rather disingenuous.

A strong human-rights advocate, he'd be one of the first to raise hell at the slightest hint of any possible "abuse" of a captured pirate by Canadian sailors, or, if Canada turned the pirates over to Kenya for trial (as some countries do), at the slightest hint that the Kenyan justice system is less than perfect. I rather imagine that concern over such hell being raised by our "progressive" experts is one reason the government is dealing with pirates so gingerly.

Mark Collins, Ottawa

More from the scourge of the high seas here;
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090421.LETTERS21ART2023-11/TPStory/?query=byers
here's a sample of his usual way of thinking:
http://toyoufromfailinghands.blogspot.com/2007/02/afstan-poop-from-professor-bilge-from.html

Meanwhile, the government is working on a somewhat more robust policy than catch and release:

Canada steps up pirate battle
http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2009/05/04/9337361-sun.html

The federal government is extending Canada's anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia and looking to close legal loopholes that result in the "catch-and-release" of perpetrators...

MacKay said because Canadians are in a "flux zone" outside territorial limits, sailors can't arrest and charge suspects unless they are directly attacking a Canadian-flagged ship. The U.S., France and Britain have reached agreements with African countries to prosecute there, and Canada's foreign affairs department is "very aggressively" seeking ways for Canada to hold suspects to account...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[MarkOttawa]

German hostage-rescue mission scuppered:

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Geman Elite Troop Abandons Plan to Free Pirate
Hostages
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,622766,00.html#ref=nlint

In a massive secret operation, Berlin sent members of its elite GSG-9 police force to Somalia to free hostages and a German freighter captured by pirates there, but the commandos were called off before the rescue effort could begin. The scuppered operation reveals deficits in Germany's security forces.

The situation room at the German Defense Ministry, on the 5th floor of Berlin's Bendler Block building complex, was built as a place where secret, life-and-death decisions are made. The room is so secure that German Chancellor Angela Merkel once complained that she couldn't even send a text message from it.

Last Wednesday, at approximately 7 p.m., the government's key state secretaries were sitting around the birch conference tables in the situation room, where they had met almost daily for the past three weeks to address a crisis brewing off the coast of Somalia. The officials were there to manage one of the biggest secret operations in postwar German history. Elite members of the GSG-9 police force were on the verge of boarding a German freighter, the Hansa Stavanger, which had been kidnapped by Somali pirates.

The Americans had lent the Germans one of their ships, the USS Boxer, to use as their flagship in the planned attack -- and a fleet of German Navy vessels flanked the enormous helicopter carrier. The ships had been patrolling near the Hansa Stavanger for days, waiting just beyond the horizon to evade detection on the pirates' radar screens.

Speaking in the situation room in Berlin, Interior Ministry State Secretary August Hanning came directly to the point. US National Security Advisor James Jones, he told the group, had called the Chancellery to cancel the operation. The US government, worried that the operation could turn into a suicide mission, was sending the USS Boxer back to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where the German forces were to disembark. Officials at the German Federal Police headquarters in Potsdam, outside Berlin, concerned about the potential for a bloodbath, had also spoken out against the operation.

"The operation cannot take place," Hanning told the group, noting that the pirates were vigilant and prepared for an attack, and that "the risk is too high."

As a result, the operation ended before it actually began. It has been almost 32 years since the GSG-9 stormed a Lufthansa airliner, the "Landshut," in the Somali capital Mogadishu, freeing hostages from the control of four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who had hijacked the aircraft. The case of the Hansa Stavanger, this time off the Somali coast, seemed sufficiently symbolic to justify another potentially successful rescue operation, though on a much larger scale. More than 200 members of the elite police force, equipped with helicopters, speedboats and advanced weapons, had been secretly brought, via Kenya, to a location 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the German freighter.

Although the dramatic narrative of the cancelled rescue operation is an example of great resolve on the part of German and American authorities, it also points to deficits. It shows that, in such extreme situations, the German government is essentially incapable of deploying its law enforcement authorities in a purposeful way...

Mark
Ottawa

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Thats some odd looking frigate Marques de la Ensenadalast time we sailed with her, she hgave us a lot of go juice. MSM kudos to you :

 

[CougarKing]

How ironic. Looks like this pirate menace is somewhat contributing to good relations between North and South Korea.

SKorean warship rescues NKorean vessel off Somalia
AP

1 hr 17 mins ago

SEOUL, South Korea – A South Korean navy warship has rescued a North Korean freighter by driving away a pirate ship chasing it off Somalia.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday the 4,500-ton-class South Korean warship sent a Lynx helicopter to assist the North Korean vessel after receiving a distress call earlier Monday that it was being chased by the pirate ship.

The statement said the pirate ship gave up chasing the North Korean ship and sped away shortly after snipers aboard the helicopter prepared to fire warning shots at it.

It said the North Korean ship later sent a thank you message to the South Korean ship.

Relations between the two Koreas have badly frayed since a conservative government in Seoul took power last year.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090504/ap_on_...s_somali_piracy

In this photo released by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, a pirate ship is seen from South Korea's Lynx helicopter in 37 kilometers (23 miles) south of Aden port in Yemen, Monday, May 4, 2009. A South Korean navy warship has rescued a North Korean freighter by driving away the pirate ship chasing it off Somalia. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday the 4,500-ton-class South Korean warship sent a Lynx helicopter to assist the North Korean vessel after receiving a distress call earlier Monday that it was being chased by the pirate ship.
(AP Photo/South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, HO)

South Korean sniper on Lynx helicopter, aims at a pirate ship in 37 kilometers (23 miles) south of Aden port in Yemen, Monday, May 4, 2009.
(AP Photo/South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, HO)

Sailors of North Korean vessel Dabaksol wave their hands to South Korea's Lynx helicopter in 37 kilometers (23 miles) south of Aden port, in Yemen, Monday, May 4, 2009.
(AP Photo/South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, HO)

 

[CougarKing]

And the Russians have been busy this week as well.

Russian ship frees Iranians seized with pirates
AP

MOSCOW – Iran's embassy in Moscow says a Russian warship has freed eight Iranians who were seized along with suspected Somali pirates last week.

The embassy says the Iranians had been held captive by the pirates for almost three months, and has praised the Russian Navy for the rescue.

The Russian destroyer Admiral Panteleyev captured a vessel with 29 suspected Somali pirates last week. Russian media had reported that Iranian and Pakistani fishermen were detained along with the suspected pirates.

A Russian Navy spokesman on Monday confirmed that the Iranians were released but would not elaborate. He said the fate of the suspected pirates was still under consideration.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090504/ap_on_...m4qtbB03GdvaA8F

 

[CougarKing]

A picture released by the NATO on May 2, 2009 shows military personnel aboard the Portuguese Frigate Corte Real frigate sailing off Somalia looking at weapons seized on a pirates "mother ship", on May 1, 2009. The Corte Real captured 19 Somali pirates after foiling an attack on an oil tanker but released them all, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation officials said on May 1, 2009. Commander Chris Davies, from the control centre for the NATO mission protecting merchant ships off Somalia, said the frigate Corte Real launched a helicopter on April 30, 2009 after being informed of an attack on the tanker, the Bahamas-flagged Kition. The helicopter pursued the pirates back to their mother ship, a fishing boat which was later boarded and weapons including grenade-launchers and explosives were seized. However a Portuguese officer with the NATO force in the Gulf of Aden, Santos Ferreira, told TSF radio that the 19 pirates captured had been released "after contact was made with Somali national authorities."

A picture released by the NATO on May 2, 2009 shows weapons seized on a pirates "mother ship", on May 1, 2009.

A picture released by the NATO on May 2, 2009 shows detained pirates aboard the Portuguese Frigate Corte Real frigate sailing off Somalia on May 1, 2009.

F332 Corte Real.