Chargesheets against 104 Somali pirates

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: The Yellow Gate police filed three charge sheets against 104 Somali pirates last week. Another charge sheet against 16 pirates will be filed within a couple of days, said police officials.

“We have filed charge sheets against 104 pirates who were arrested on March 12 for hijacking several ships like Vega 5 and Al-Murtuza. The Somalians have been booked for attempt to murder, unlawful assembly, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and for carrying weapons,” said investigating officer M G Tope.

Each case has a 520-page charge sheet. The pirates were captured by the Indian Navy after the coast guard alerted it about the hijacked vessels. Navy had rounded up 120 pirates in several raids and rescued 70 hostages belonging to Thailand, Philippines, Bangladesh, Iran, Turkey, Myanmar and Pakistan. Subsequently, other countries claimed their nationals back. However, Pakistani is yet to claim five of its nationals.

“We had seized 11 AK-47 rifles with magazines and 10 AK-47s without magazines. Two rocket launchers were also recovered from the pirates. During interrogation, we learnt that the pirates had thrown most of their weapons in the sea when they realized that they will be captured,” said Tope. The pirates have also been booked for waging a war against the Indian government. “We have invoked sections of stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA),” added Tope.


The Times of India, June 22, 2011