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Thirty-five Somali pirates, who were captured by the Indian Navy's INS Kolkata, were handed over to Mumbai Police and a case was registered against them on Saturday. Due formalities of customs and immigration were also completed.
Mumbai Police said, "A case was registered against 35 Somalian marine accused under IPC sections 307, 364(A), 363, 384, 353, 341, 342, 344(A) 120(B), 143, 145, 147, 148, 149, 438, 427, 506 and 506(2) at Yellow Gate Police Station, Mumbai and they have been arrested." Earlier, the Indian Navy thwarted the piracy attempt on MV Ruen, which was under the control of Somalian pirates since last December, by safely evacuating 17 crew members and coercing 35 pirates to surrender. The Indian Navy informed in a statement that the mission was carried out by INS Kolkata on Saturday. "INS Kolkata, a mission deployed in the Arabian Sea, through the sustained high tempo of operations, has thwarted the designs of the Somali pirates to hijack ships transiting through the region by intercepting the pirate ship MV Ruen, on March 16. The merchant vessel had been hijacked in December 2023 and was under the control of the Somalian Pirates till now," the statement read. Earlier, the navy informed that the Indian warship INS Kolkata successfully cornered and coerced all 35 pirates to surrender, ensuring the safe evacuation of 17 crew members from the pirate vessel without any injury. In the rescue operation, which lasted for the last 40 hours, INS Kolkata intercepted the under-attack pirate ship Ruen, sailing almost 2600 km from the shores of the Indian Coast, and forced the pirate ship to stop through calibrated actions. In the action to safely rescue the crew members and take full control of the distressed vessel, the operation was supported by the Indian warship INS Subhadra, High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE RPA) drones, P8I maritime patrol aircraft, and, MARCOS PRAHARs airdropped by C-17 aircraft. Later, the vessel was also sanitised for the presence of illegal arms, ammunition, and contraband. (ANI)
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