FIVE CAPTURED PIRACY SUSPECTS CHARGED IN SEYCHELLES’ SUPREME COURT
(Posted 31st May 2019)
Five Somalis, captured by the multinational naval task force in the Indian Ocean by EU NAVFOR‘s flagship ESPS Navarra, were earlier in the week formally charged at the Seychelles Supreme Court in the capital Victoria.
The suspects were caught in the act by the naval task force, arrested and then brought to Mahe to face justice under an agreement between the EU and the Seychelles.
Notably had one of those caught been arrested already in 2017 and was sent to the Seychelles for trial. He was subsequently repatriated to Somalia but let loose again by authorities there, which now seem almost complicit with acts of piracy after failing to keep the suspect in jail.
The case’ next mention will be in early June when a trial date is expected to be set.
Seychelles was the first country to take the fight back to the pirates during the height of the piracy problem in the Indian Ocean when it became clear that the menace had become a clear and present danger to the Seychelles’ security and economy, after cruise ships shifted their ships elsewhere.
Equipped with new surveillance aircraft and new naval units did the Seychelles then succeed in capturing several highjacked vessels, rescue the hostages, capture the pirates involved and in two cases sink their motherships during an exchange of fire.
The determined action by the Seychelles government, with then Home Affairs Minister Joel Morgan a strong supporter of armed responses, eventually also led to a more determined overall response from the naval coalition which eventually rid the sea lanes around the Horn of Africa and along the Eastern seabord of Africa of the ocean terrorists.
Subsequently have cruise lines resumed their Indian Ocean / African mainland routes with now dozens of port calls every season in the Seychelles but also across the other Vanilla Islands.
However, more recently were some incidents of piracy reported once again, a sharp reminder that large parts of Somalia remain under terrorist control where pirates can operate almost freely after paying their dues to the terror overlords.
