Somali Pirates: Spanish warship destroys pirate boat, captures suspected pirates

EUNAVFOR reports Warship Disrupts Suspected Pirate Whaler:

On the afternoon of 3 April 2011, the EU NAVFOR Spanish warship ESPS INFANTA ELENA, identified and boarded a suspected pirate whaler 89 Nautical miles South-East of Mombasa.

The warship had received a short notice tasking to locate a suspected Pirate Action Group (PAG) that had attacked a merchant vessel earlier the same day.

On arriving in the area, the INFANTA ELENA found a whaler-type boat, which together with 2 attack skiffs, was suspected of being responsible for the earlier attack. There were two suspected pirates onboard together with significant numbers of fuel barrels, as well as other suspected pirate-related paraphernalia, all of which were seized. The suspected pirates were detained by the warship and the whaler was destroyed. There was no sign of the attack skiffs which are thought to still be at large.

As there was insufficient evidence to secure a prosecution, the suspected pirates will be returned to Somalia as soon as operations allow.

Buen trabajo, España!

Somali Pirates: Spanish Navy Bags 11 Suspected Pirates

Reported here:

The Spanish navy Tuesday arrested 11 suspected Somali pirates who had chased a Seychelles-registered fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean, the Spanish defence ministry saud.

The 11 suspects remain aboard the Spanish frigate "Canarias" pending a decision by authorities in the Seychelles, it

Spanish Frigate ESPS Canarias

said in a statement.

The Spanish naval operations centre (COVAM) was alerted by the fishing vessel that it was being pursued by pirates aboard two boats -- a skiff and a whaler -- in the early hours of Tuesday.

Crew on the boat, which included several Spaniards, at the same time fired warning shots to dissuade the pirates.

COVAM contacted the "Canarias", which is part of the European Union's Atalante anti-piracy operation in the Indian Ocean, and a helicopter from the frigate went to intercept the pirates, the statement said.

"The 'Canarias' managed to capture the skiff with eight suspected pirates on board and found no weapons or material related to piracy, and soon afterwards intercepted the whaler, which had three suspects on board."

Somali Pirates: EU Spanish LPD Takes Out Some Pirate Boats

EU MSC (HOA) reports The spanish warship “GALICIA” disrupts a pirate action group off the Somali coasts:

September 22, EU NAVFOR Spanish ship GALICIA disrupted a pirate action group, comprised of one whaler and two skiffs.

Galicia was patrolling off the east coast of Somalia and thanks to detailed information gathering, the Spanish ship was able to intercept two skiffs and the whaler.
The group was located at night only 500 meters from the Somali coast by one of Galicia’s helicopters, which started the preparation for the interception.

This one was completed without any opposition from the 11 suspected pirates. The whaler and skiffs carried all pirate paraphernalia indicating they were preparing to conduct acts of piracy off the coasts (fuel drums, ladders, weapons and ammunition.

As none of the pirates were caught in an act of piracy, although conspiracy was clearly stated, it was not possible to proceed with a prosecution. However, everything that could be used to conduct piracy was seized and the whaler and one skiff were destroyed.

Keeping the bad guys from getting to sea . . . blockade those pirates!

Somali Pirates: Spain Bags Some Pirates

Reported by MSC(HOA):

26/04/2010 13.30 UTC

The EU NAVFOR warship ESPS VICTORIA yesterday intercepted a pirate action group (PAG) comprising one mother ship, a “Whaler”, and two skiffs.
The suspected pirates were detected by the frigate's helicopter 40 miles from the Somali coast north west of the Seychelles. The helicopter crew saw that the mother ship was carrying a large number of fuel drums, and also the normal paraphernalia for hijacking ships (ladders, hooks, etc); there was no fishing gear on board.
EU NAVFOR warship closed the PAG position and, following the orders of the EU NAVFOR Force Commander Jan Thörnqvist, a search was conducted with no opposition from the pirates. The boarding party confirmed the suspicions that these vessels were being used with the intent to carry out acts of piracy.
All the suspects were then put into one of the skiffs and given the necessary equipment to reach the Somali coast. Victoria then proceeded to destroy the other vessels.

Spanish Navy release here.

Somali Pirates: Another Pirate "Mother Boat" Sunk

EU MSC(HOA) report here:

Yesterday, 15 April, EU NAVFOR Spanish warship ESPS VICTORIA tracked, boarded and destroyed a Pirate mother ship.

This event, just off the coast of Somalia, shows that EU NAVFORs new, more robust strategy is working. On Thursday morning, an EU NAVFOR helicopter, from the Spanish ship Victoria, detected a Whaler with three suspected pirates onboard, just off the Somali coast. Victoria called upon the Whaler to stop but got no response. After warning shots were fired, a boarding was carried out.

On inspection of the whaler large amounts of fuel and ammunition were found. Although the individuals said they were fishermen, no fishing equipment was found. The decision was taken to dispose of the whaler and the three men on board were transported ashore. The whaler was subsequently destroyed.

Somali Pirates: Spanish trawler ransom demand $4 million

Reported as Somali pirates want $4 mln for Spanish trawler:

Somali pirates holding a Spanish tuna trawler for the past 12 days on Wednesday demanded a four million dollar ransom for the ship and its 36 crew as pressure grew on Madrid to put marines on fishing vessels.
***
The 100-metre (358-foot) Alakrana was seized October 2 on the high seas between Somalia and the Seychelles as calmer waters at the end of the monsoon season made vessels more vulnerable to attacks.

As usual, the crew of the trawler is made up of several nationalities.

Somali Pirates: Fishing Boat Taken to Pirate Port

Reported here:

A hijacked trawler has been taken to port in Somalia with pirates still in charge of the vessel, the Spanish government said Sunday.

The Spanish-owned fishing boat Alakrana was hijacked by pirates early Friday. It is being monitored by two navy warships, rescue force commander Gen. Jaime Dominguez said.

Dominguez also said at a press conference that two suspected pirates had been captured as they navigated a small boat in the vicinity of the Alakrana.

The two had just come off the Alakrana aboard a motorized skiff that carried 14 containers of fuel, Dominguez said.

The fishing boat is purported to be headed to Harardhere, a well known pirate lair. See here:

A Spanish tuna trawler with a 36-member crew was heading Saturday to the port of Harardhere a day after it was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, pirates and the Spanish military said. "Our colleagues contacted us to tell us that they will arrive at Harardhere in several hours. This boat has been fishing illegally for a long time and fortunately it is now in our hands," a pirate who gave his name as Abdi Mohamed told AFP by telephone. Spanish military operations chief Jaime Dominguez Buj said a frigate dispatched by Madrid is expected to catch up with the Alakrana later on Saturday and prevent the trawler from reaching the Somali coast.

Photo is from Spanish Ministry of Defense. Video available (in Spanish) here.
UPDATE: Arrows point to general area where Spanish fishing vessel is reportedly being held.
Click to enlarge.

Somali Pirates: Spanish Fishing Trawler Grabbed

Reported as Somali pirates seize Spanish fishing boat:

Somali pirates on Friday captured a Spanish fishing boat in the Indian Ocean, marking a return of sea bandits from the lawless Horn of Africa country with the end of the monsoon season.

The 100-metre Alakrana and its crew of 36 was seized in the early hours of Friday in the high seas between Somalia and the Seychelles, maritime officials told AFP.

"It was hijacked this morning. We do not know the exact location yet," said Andrew Mwangura of the Kenya-based Seafarers Assistance Programme, which monitors pirate activity.

A Spanish military official told AFP in Madrid that the Alakrana sent a distress call to another Spanish fishing vessel in the vicinity which in turn alerted a frigate with the European Union's anti-piracy naval force.

A plane has been dispatched to make contact with the Alakrana.

More here:

The "Alacrana" operates out of a port in the Basque Country in northern Spain, La Ser said.

A foreign ministry spokesman could not immediately confirm the report, but the same boat featured in Spanish media reports last week when the captain described how bad weather had helped his vessel escape a pirate attack.

Vessel shown is not the Alakrana but a similar vessel.

UPDATE: Shipowner website.

Somali Pirates: Cruise Ship Attackers Caught by Spanish Navy?

Suspected pirates, found in the vicinity of the recent attack on a cruise ship off the Seychelles have been swept up by a Spanish frigate, as reported here:

A Spanish warship has intercepted a skiff carrying nine suspected Somali pirates believed to have attacked an Italian cruise ship at the weekend, the defence ministry said Monday.

The Numancia frigate "intercepted a skiff with nine occupants who could be connected to the hijacking attempt of the Italian cruise ship which was eventually repelled by the boat," it said in a statement.

The cruise liner Melody, carrying more than 1,500 people, was attacked on Saturday but Israeli security guards on board the ship responded to the pirates' gunfire and were able to repel them.

After the hijacking attempt The Numancia, along with patrol planes from France and the Seychelles and an Indian navy ship, launched a high-seas hunt for the assailants.

During the search, the naval mission found "two small boats with nine suspects on board very close to the scene of the attack against the cruise," the Spanish defence ministry said.

The suspects abandoned one the boats and were later caught in the skiff. The Spanish navy handed over the suspects to a Seychelles ship since they were captured in the island nation's waters in the Indian Ocean.

A commander of the pirates who attacked the cruise ship described the bandits' attempt to seize the boat in an interview with AFP earlier Monday.

"Unfortunately, for technical reasons, we could not seize the ship," Mohamed Muse told AFP by phone from the pirate lair of Eyl, in the northern Somali breakaway state of Puntland.

"We were aware that hijacking such a big ship would have been a new landmark in piracy off the coast of Somalia but unfortunately they used good tactics and we were not able to board," he said.

"It was not the first time we went for that kind of ship and this time we came closer to capturing it and we really sprayed it with gunfire," Muse said.

The captain of the cruise liner, Ciro Pinto, said the attack had felt like a war and praised the response of the security guards.

"The ship was very big and there were only a dozen pirates involved in the attack so we eventually ad to decide to back off after chasing it for close to 30 minutes," Muse said.

Muse? Same name as the suspect in the Maersk Alabama case? Hmmm.

The Spanish frigate is based on the U.S. Perry class design. See here for Spanish Navy report on incident, translated (by Google):

Monday, 27 April 2009
The frigate "Numancia" and located a boat allegedly addresses used by hackers to assault the MSC Melody cruise

Intercepted a skiff with new occupants

The frigate 'Numancia,' has now successfully completed a new mission after the interception of a suspected piracy skiff north coast of the Seychelles.

During the morning of Sunday, April 26, received a communication from emergency aboard the "Numancia" for the attempted kidnapping of the Italian flag ship MSC Melody, who was traveling with 991 passengers and 536 crew members of the Indian Ocean waters to the North of Seychelles. Immediately the commander of the Naval Force of the European Union (EUNAVFOR), Captain Juan Garat, ordered the frigate heading to the scene at full speed, while coordinating the intervention with other military forces in the area .

The area where the assault took place more than 300 miles (over 550 km) of the position of the frigate, and the Force Commander requested the collaboration of other international forces in the area. In addition to the Spanish ship and its helicopter, involved two maritime patrol aircraft, one French and one of Seychelles, and the ship of the Navy India 'Nirdeshak', with an embarked helicopter. After a laborious search together, two small boats were located very close to the point of attack on the cruise, with nine suspects on board.

At a certain point, the assumptions of an abandoned pirate ship, which was found empty and investigated by the Indian vessel, while the "Numancia" and sought to reach the other, with the nine occupants on board. Finally, given that the incident took place in the Seychelles Exclusive Economic Zone, a ship that took nationality of the suspects.

UPDATE: The Indian Navy vessel mentioned is an armed "survey" ship:

The INS Nirdeshak, which belongs to the Sandhayak class of survey vessels, is equipped with a Chetak helicopter and interceptor boats that can undertake anti-piracy missions. It also has a heavy 40 mm Bofors gun on board and has made several trips to the island nation in the past to carry out navigational surveys.

It is in the area of the Seychelles at the request of the Seychelles armed forces.

Somalia: Anti-Somali Pirate Spanish Patrol Aircraft Heads Out

Reported here:

A Spanish military aircraft which will patrol the waters off the coast of Somalia to protect ships from pirates left on Saturday from Moron air base in Seville, the Ministry of Defence said..

The P-3 Orion plane was accompanied by a Boeing 727 and a Hercules helicopter, carrying 90 personnel including crew, the ministry said in a news release.

The patrol operation will run for an initial three months, which could be extended depending on decisions taken on the international stage.

The move comes after French commandos on Tuesday freed two French tourists held for ransom on their yacht off the African country's coast. In April, crew members of a Spanish fishing boat were freed by pirates in the area after payment of a $1.2 million ransom, according to a Somali official.

The Orion will collect information on the movements of pirates to relay to a European Union task force formed on Monday to work against piracy off the Horn of Africa.

Somali Pirates: Spainish military may come calling

Spain may take a whack at the Somalia pirates holding one of their tuna boats, it's reported here

Spain could stage a military operation as a last resort to rescue 26 fishermen whose boat was seized by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean, press reports said Tuesday in Madrid.

The Spanish frigate Mendez Nunez was on its way from the Red Sea towards the Horn of Africa, but government sources said its presence would be "dissuasive" and no military action was planned.

The daily El Pais, however, said the government was considering a rescue operation if it could not resolve the situation through other means, such as paying the ransom demanded by the pirates.

The tuna fishing vessel Playa de Bakio was seized Sunday in international waters where it was attacked with grenade launchers by four pirates. The pirates are asking for a ransom for the 13 Spanish and 13 African fishermen.

The vessel was being taken towards Somalia. Spain was waiting for the pirates to specify how much money they wanted.

The Mendez Nunez carries marine infantry soldiers, including elite snipers, but a military operation would require the dispatch of a special operations group from Spain, according to El Pais.

Spain has also contacted a NATO task force present in the area, in case it could provide any useful information.

Piracy situations off Somalia have not been resolved through rescue operations so far, according to Spanish reports.

There was, however, the possibility of paying a ransom and of arresting the pirates after the hostages had been released, a strategy pursued by France, which captured some pirates after they freed 30 hostages earlier this month.

Spain has reportedly established a crisis response team and is weighing options. Meanwhile, a NATO alert has been sounded, as set out after voice communications with the crew and pirates here:

"I am the captain of the boat... we are all well and there is no problem, for the moment there is no problem," said Amadeo Alvarez, 55, the Galician skipper, speaking to Spanish national radio.

He was interrupted by a man who identified himself as a member of a "Somalia militia" and said in broken English that there would be no problems if their demands were met. Details of the pirates' demands have not been made public but the Somali was heard to say: "It's a question of money."
***
"The ministry of defence has alerted Nato and contacted France, Britain, and other allied countries with a military presence in the area," said Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the prime minister. The government said it was working with the African Union and Somali authorities to resolve the situation.

Somali Pirates: Spanish boat captured?

Reported here:

A Basque tuna boat, "Playa de Bakio" carrying a crew of 26 has been taken over by pirates off the Somali coast.

The statement was made by a spokesman from Spain's foreign ministry. There are thirteen Spanish nationals and thirteen African crew-members on board the boat which was seized by pirates about 400 km off the coast of Somalia on Sunday, public radio RNE reported earlier, as did AFP.

According to the radio report, the boat is heading to Somalia.

This is while a source from the Basque government's Agriculture, Fisheries and Food department told the Spanish news agency, Efe, that four armed pirates took control of the boat using grenade launchers, BBC reported.

The source said the boat suffered "some damage" in the attack but was "navigable".

More here:

The Playa de Bakio "was boarded and apparently seized while it was fishing in Somali waters" at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT), the ministry said in a statement.

Thirteen of the crew are Spanish nationals, it said, while Spanish media reported that their remaining 13 crewmates are African nationals.

Four pirates armed with grenade launchers seized the boat, which is based in the Basque town of Bremeo, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) off the coast of Somalia, Basque government officials told the Europa Press news agency.

The ship was damaged in the attack but it is still able to sail and it appears to be headed towards land, they added.

"The defence ministry has instructed one of its ships which is nearby to head immediately to the area of the incident," the foreign ministry's statement said.

A Spanish military frigate that was in the Red Sea was heading towards the are where the fishing boat was seized, a government source said.

The defence ministry has also been in contact with military officials of nations with a military presence in the area to request "logistics support and help in locating the affected boat, the statement added.