ICGS Samar, Off Mumbai Coast:
28 pirates were handed over to the Mumbai police by the Coast Guard this afternoon.
The pirates were captured during a joint operation by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard off the Kavaratti Island in Lakshadweep last week.
(Read: Indian Navy captures 28 pirates off the Lakshwadeep Islands)They have been charged with various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including murder, trespassing, rioting and attempt to murder. The pirates had hijacked a Thai fishing trawler
Prantalay-11 and held 24 fishermen hostage since April 2010. They were using the Thai fishing trawler as a mother vessel from where they would launch skiffs to attack and hijack merchant vessels in the region.
This is the second batch of pirates to be handed over the Mumbai police in the last two weeks.
Inspector General S. P. S. Basra, Commander Coast Guard Region (West) told NDTV, "These vessels from Thailand travel for months together. They carry sufficient logistics involved in deep-sea fishing. So these vessels have the ability to stay out at sea for months together.''
The International Maritime Board has said that pirate attacks have increased by 40 per cent in recent times, a sharp hike that needs to be dealt with.
The bigger worry is that the pirates are closer to the Indian coast than ever before. This is because the Gulf of Aden, previously more vulnerable, is now heavily patrolled.
Inspector General S. P. S. Basra, Commander Coast Guard Region (West) says, ''Some of these pirates, because they do not get their regular catch close to the Somali coast, they venture out to capture ships which are operating at a distance. Close to Lakshadweep, there are three major sea lanes of communication, where the traffic diverges into three places. It is a good, an ideal place for them to hunt.''
On Tuesday, an Italian-flagged oil tanker
MV Savina Caylyn, with 17 Indian sailors on board was hijacked just 550 nautical miles off the Indian coast, a patch considered far away from the area where the pirates normally operate.
Again on Wednesday, another vessel,
Irene SL was also hijacked.
Given the increasing threat to merchant vessels in the region, in December 2010, the Navy and Coast Guard had launched 'Operation Island Watch' to keep a vigil on Indian waters, however this operation has now been extended till March, because of increasing instances of piracy.
Defence officials say the pirates now have more sophisticated arms and faster skiffs increasing the threat.
With 29 vessels still under the control of pirates in the waters off the coast of Somalia and at least three more pirate groups active in the region, there seems to be no immediate respite from the pirate threat.