von On Saturday evening, 29 of May, the Seychelles Coast Guard disrupted a Pirate Action Group, including a mother ship with 9 suspected pirates on board and two fast attack skiffs, after being led to the target by an EU NAVFOR maritime patrol aircraft from the Swedish Coast Guard.
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| EU NAVFOR Maritime Patroll Aircraft from the Swedish Coast Guard Source: EU NAVFOR Click to enlarge |
On last Thursday, 27 May, an EU NAVFOR maritime patrol aircraft from the Swedish Coast Guard spotted a suspected Pirate Action Group (PAG) about 500 nautical miles east of the Somali coast. The PAG consisted of 1 whaler and 2 skiffs. At that time, no units were close enough to verify and control the vessels.
On Saturday morning, the PAG was relocated some 250 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles. Thanks to the good cooperation between EU NAVFOR and the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG) combined with the use of the same system to communicate, Mercury, the task could be easily transferred to SCG.
On Saturday evening, the SCG Patrol Ship Topaz had caught up and could identify the suspected pirate boats. After confirming that they had pirate paraphernalia on board, 9 suspected pirates were disarmed and their two attack skiffs were destroyed. The suspected pirates were then embarked in their mother ship (whaler) and released.
EU NAVFOR Somalia – Operation ATALANTA’s main tasks are to escort merchant vessels carrying humanitarian aid of the World Food Programme (WFP) and vessels of African Union Mission in Somalia, AMISOM and to protect vulnerable vessels in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy. EU NAVFOR also monitors fishing activity off the coast of Somalia.
Press release
EU NAVFOR
