Nine pirates handed over to Somali authorities
(B2) The French frigate which is part of the Eunavfor Atalanta operation, the "Floréal", handed over - Thursday, January 29 - to the Somali Coast Guard, off Bossao, the nine pirates intercepted two days earlier in the Gulf from Aden. As well as the evidence gathered by the sailors (weapons, ladders...).
On the afternoon of January 27, the Floréal intervened at the request of the Atalanta mission headquarters, which had received an alert from the African Rubis, a merchant ship under the Maltese flag, threatened by two pirate skiffs. The overflight of the area by the Panther helicopter had been enough to stop the attack with a warning shot. And the two skiffs with armed men on board had been spotted, according to a press release from the French navy. The men of the visiting teams (on board two inflatables) then proceeded to arrest them. And the nine suspected pirates placed in detention aboard the French ship.
NB: no ground of jurisdiction could justify repatriation to France for a judgment according to the French penal code.
The lull in the weather has caused an upsurge in pirate attacks, said Northwood's headquarters. And a German liquid gas tanker, the MV Longchamp, was just captured on Thursday with 13 crew on board (12 Filipinos and 1 Indonesian).
To see a video of the intervention (source: Council of the EU): here
