A pirate group dismantled by the De Grasse

French sailors from De Grasse, the flagship of the European anti-piracy fleet Eunavfor Atalanta, intercepted a pirate action group along the Somali coast in the early hours of October 20.

The De Grasse was on patrol on the Somali coast, coming up from Tanzania, where it has just made a remarkable stopover (with formal and operational visits from the Tanzanian navy as a result). Having spotted suspicious vessels, the De Grasse's helicopter was dispatched to the scene. The warning shots were enough to stop the pirates on the skiffs which were then picked up by one of the French ship's boarding boats. The helicopter then spotted the whaler - which served as the mother ship - stopped on the same methods. True to "tradition", the pirates swung over weapons and other paraphernalia.

A total of 12 suspects were thus intercepted. "In the absence of flagrante delicto, it was not possible to initiate proceedings", we say at Atalanta HQ. The whaler was destroyed. And the pirates, disarmed, asked to join the Somali coast, aboard the skiffs.