EU forces arrest six Somali pirates

The European Union’s anti-piracy forces arrested six pirates off Somalia’s coast yesterday, reported.

The operation took 24 hours during which “six suspected pirates and a skiff were captured by Italian Marines from ITS Virginio Fasan warship after the attack on a 52,000-tonne container ship and a fishing vessel,” Garowe Online reported an EU statement saying.

The pirates attacked the container ships with rocket propelled grenades in a bid to hijack its commercial assets.

Piracy is a global threat to the international shipping industry and poses a severe security risk to trade companies operating past the Somali waters and on to the Indian Ocean.

The European Union Naval Force focuses on Somali-based piracy and robbery in the Horn of African and the Western Indian Ocean. Crews of commercial trading ships are often held as hostages and remain prisoners on average for a period of up to five months.

Since Somalia’s spike in piracy in 2011 which saw some 736 hostages and 32 ships hijacked, fewer attacks have been reported.